,KY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORMI& 
DAVIS 


CKR 


.Engraved  from  a.  Daguerreotype  Miniature  by  AiL.Dlc-lc 


Inaugurated  Governor  of  Rhode  Island. 
May   Si  1842. 


T    H    niTiifllo     VT    Rnctn 


-ff 

THE 


LIFE   AND   TIMES 


OF 


THOMAS  WILSON  DORK, 


OUTLINES   OF   THE   POLITICAL  HISTORY 

OF 

RHODE  ISLAND. 


BY       DAN       KING. 


Truth  shall  restore  the  light  by  nature  given, 
And,  like  Prometheus,  bring  the  fire  of  heaven ! 
Prone  to  the  dust  Oppression  shall  be  hurled, 
Her  name,  her  nature,  withered  from  the  world ! 

CAMPBELL'S  DOWNFALL  OF  POLAND. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED     BY     THE    AUTHOR, 

1859. 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 

DAN      KING, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


ELECTROTYPES  AT  THE 
BOSTON  STEREOTYPE  POUNDRT. 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  work  is  intended  to  correct  some 
of  the  prominent  mistakes  which  are  found  to 
prevail  in  regard  to  the  character  of  that  political 
controversy  which  took  place  in  Rhode  Island  in 
1841-2.  Although  some  may  be  of  opinion  that  it  is 
too  soon  to  give  that  history  to  the  public,  and  the 
day  may  be  far  distant  when  it  can  be  written  or 
read  without  prejudice,  yet  the  author  believes  that 
no  good  cause  will  suffer  by  investigation ;  that  it 
can  never  be  too  soon  to  correct  errors  and  mistakes ; 
that  national  freedom  can  only  be  maintained  by 
the  proper  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  that  in  every 
popular  government  the  respective  rights  of  the  people 
and  of  their  government  should  be  clearly  denned 
and  distinctly  understood.  If  popular  sovereignty 
is  to  be  regarded  as  any  thing  more  than  an  empty 
name  —  if  it  is  in  reality  the  fundamental  principle 

(5) 


6  PREFACE. 

of  all  free  institutions  —  it  should  never  be  lost  sight 
of,  but  should  be  constantly  watched  as  the  polar  star 
of  civil  liberty. 

The  writer  is  conscious  of  the  perilous  position  which 
he  has  assumed ;  he  knows  full  well  the  intensity  of 
those  fires  which  that  controversy  enkindled,  and  is 
aware  that  beneath  their  sleeping  ashes  there  may  be 
livid  coals v  which  will  glow  again  as  soon  as  stirred. 
He  has  no  desire  to  provoke  anew  those  angry  feelings 
which  raged  with  so  much  fury  during  the  period  in 
question :  yet,  in  obedience  to  his  own  convictions  of 
truth  and  justice,  he  has  plainly  and  fearlessly  made 
known  his  own  sentiments  respecting  that  contro 
versy  and  the  character  of  its  master  spirit  —  THOMAS 
WILSON  DORR. 

TAUNTON,  April  1,  1859, 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGB 

The  Early  History  of  the  Government  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations.  ....  .  11 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Abrogation  of  the  Royal  Charter  by  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  —  Its  Defects  and  practical  Injustice,  and  Efforts  of 
the  People  to  bring  about  a  Change 19 


CHAPTER    III. 

Proceedings  of  the  People  in  Forming  and  Adopting  a  Constitu 
tion.  .-       .        .        .  ,34 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Landholders'  Constitution  formed  and  rejected.  —  Proceedings 
of  the  General  Assembly.  —  The  Right  of  the  People  to  form 
Constitutions  considered,  and  Authorities  quoted.  .  .  .54 

CHAPTER    V. 

The  Algerine  Act.  —  Application  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  Troops.  —  Correspondence  between  the  President 
and  Governor  King  and  others.  —  Mr.  Dorr's  Election.  —  His 

Message,  &c 64 

(7) 


8  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

PA«* 

for  believing  the  Charter  Government  to  be  held  by  a 
Minority.  —  The  Neglect  of  the  People's  Legislature  to  take 
Possession  of  the  Public  Property,  and  its  Consequences  con 
sidered.  — An  Extract  from  the  Journal  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  .  .  »  ...  ».  .  .  .  .97 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Right  of  the  Charter  Government  to  hold  out  against  the 
People  considered.  —  Causes  of  Complaint  set  forth,  &c.  — 
Confidential  Letter  from  President  Tyler.  .  .  .  .  119 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Mr.  Dorr's  Visit  to  Washington  and  New  York.  —  His  Return  to 
Providence.  —  Attack  upon  the  Arsenal.         ....  125 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Martial  Law.  —  Gov.  King's  Proclamation.  —  Gov.  Dorr's  Return 
and  Proclamations.  —  Outrages  committed  under  the  Pretext 
of  Martial  Law.  .  •  •  •  .  .131 


CHAPTER    X. 

Mr.  Dorr's  Return.  —  Proclamation.  —  Dismisses  his  Men,  and 
leaves  the  State.  —  Proceedings  of  Charter  Troops.  —  Arrests 
and  Imprisonment  of  Suffrage  Men.  .  -  .  .  •"  .151 

CHAPTER    XI. 
Martial  Law.  ..   »  .     •        •        .176 


CONTENTS.  9 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PAGK 

Commissioners  appointed  to  examine  the  Prisoners.  —  Proceed 
ings.  —  Measures  taken  to  form  another  Constitution.  —  Con 
dition  of  the  People  at  the  time.  —  Constitution  declared 
adopted 182 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Mr.  Dorr's  Return.  —  His  Arrest  and  Imprisonment.  —  Trial.  — 
Conviction.  —  Speech.  —  Sentence.  —  Removal  to  State  Prison.  189 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
Reflections .  215 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Resolutions  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  concerning  Mr.  Dorr.  224 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Report  of  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States.  —  Also,  Speech  of  Hon.  Mr. 
Allen,  of  Ohio 230 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Propositions  for  the  Release  of  Mr.  Dorr,  on  Condition  that  he 
will  engage  to  support  the  existing  Constitution. — He  refuses, 
and  is  afterwards  set  at  Liberty  by  an  Act  of  General  Am 
nesty. —  Rejoicings  and  Congratulations,  &c 266 


10  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

PAG« 

An  Act  of  the  Rhode  Island  Legislature  to  reverse  and  annul 
the  Judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  against  Mr.  Dorr.  .         .  280 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

Sketch  of  Mr.  Dorr's  Life.   .  .284 


APPENDIX. 

Charter  of  1643,  granted  under  the  Authority  of  Parliament.       .  295 
Charter  granted  by  King  Charles  H.     ,      ,.:•;,->        .   ...    •        •  298 

Constitution  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plan 
tations,  adopted  by  the  People  December  27th,  28th,  and  29th, 
1841 317 

Constitution  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta 
tions,  adopted  November,  1842.  .  .  .  .  ,  .346 


THE 

LIFE  AND  TIMES 

OF 

THOMAS   WILSON    DORR. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   EARLY   HISTORY   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT    OF    RHODE 
ISLAND    AND    PROVIDENCE    PLANTATIONS. 

SEVENTEEN  years  have  sped  their  hasty  round  since 
the  crisis  of  the  great  political  controversy  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  the  stormy 
passions  which  that  occasion  generated  have  in  a  great 
measure  subsided.  Many  of  the  principal  actors  in 
those  trying  scenes  have  since  passed  away ;  the  boy 
who  then  lay  in  his  cradle  has  now  become  a  man,  and 
almost  an  entire  new  generation  has  come  upon  the 
stage.  "We  have  no  desire  unnecessarily  to  stir  up 
again  the  smouldering  fires,  or  to  rekindle  that  angry 
spirit  which  raged  with  so  much  fury  in  that  eventful 
period  ;  but  it  is  hoped  now,  when  time  has  so  far 
quieted  the  passions  and  mellowed  the  feelings,  when  a 

(ii) 


12  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF 

sufficient  period  has  been  allowed  for  the  exercise  of 
that  sober  second  thought  which  finally  approves  of 
the  right  and  condemns  the  wrong,  we  may  safely 
"  submit  the  facts  to  a  candid  world."  But  if  we  are 
mistaken  —  if  it  is  yet  too  soon  —  there  is  still  one  conso 
lation  left,  and  that  is,  that  the  time  will  some  day  come, 
when  all  the  prejudice,  and  interest,  and  passion  that 
were  developed  on  that  occasion  shall  have  wholly 
passed  away,  and  nothing  but  stubborn' facts,  in  all  their 
nakedness,  shall  imprint  their  undying  images  on  the 
page  of  history.  Time  will  eventually  sweep  away 
every  minor  interest,  and  every  sinister  motive,  cool 
every  passion,  and  hush  in  perpetual  silence  every 
angry  feeling.  Let  the  present  time  be  thought  too 
soon  or  too  late,  the  day  of  assize  will  assuredly  come, 
and  posterity  will  pass  its  stern  decrees  upon  all  acts 
that  history  shall  bring  before  that  tribunal. 

The  history  of  THOMAS  WILSON  DORR  and  his  times 
involves  some  of  the  most  important  principles  of  civil 
government.  The  question  is  not  simply  whether  Mr. 
Dorr  acted  wisely  or  unwisely,  nor  whether  he  and  his 
associates  were  patriots  or  felons,  but  whether  the 
motives  by  which  they  were  actuated  were  in  accordance 
with  the  great  principles  of  American  democracy.  In 
order  to  have  a  correct  and  thorough  understanding  of 
the  subject,  we  must  go  back  and  make  ourselves  ac 
quainted  with  the  early  history  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
the  doctrines  held  by  its  founders.  We  must  take  into 
consideration  the  inherent,  inalienable  natural  rights  of 
man,  and  the  purposes  for  which  governments  are 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  13 

instituted.  "We  must  notice  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  government  of  Rhode  Island  came  into  ex 
istence,  and  trace  its  history  down  to  the  period  in 
question. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  great  problem  that 
we  are  to  solve  has  respect  only  to  those  few  individu 
als  who  were  actively  engaged  in  the  controversy,  or 
that  it  is  confined  to  the  territory  of  Rhode  Island,  or 
to  any  number  of  states,  or  even  the  United  States.  It 
involves  the  principles  of  popular  sovereignty  —  the  right 
of  the  people  themselves,  in  their  own  time,  and  in 
their  own  way,  to  set  up  a  new  government  or  change 
an  old  one.  This  is  the  most  grave  of  all  political 
questions,  and  deserves  to  be  well  considered  by  every 
American  citizen ;  its  importance  cannot  be  confined  to 
any  age  or  country,  but  it  must  concern  all  men  through 
out  all  time.  The  first  settlers  of  the  American  colo 
nies  repudiated  the  aristocratic  doctrines  of  the  mother 
country,  and  held  that  the  people  should  be  considered 
as  the  true  source  of  all  civil  power.  This  principle  is 
fully  developed  in  the  early  history  of  Rhode  Island. 
Perhaps  no  man  ever  entertained  more  liberal  views  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom  than  Roger  Williams ;  and 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  enjoying  that  freedom,  he  and 
his  associates  planted  their  infant  colony  upon  the  bor 
ders  of  Narragansett  Bay.  Here  they  sought  to  estab 
lish  and  perpetuate  the  true  principles  of  rational  liber 
ty.  The  settlement  was  commenced  in  1636,  and 
the  following  is  one  of  their  earliest  records  :  — 

"We,   whose    names    are    hereunder,    desirous    to 
inhabit   in  the   town   of    Providence,   do   promise   to 
2 


14  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

subject  ourselves,  in  active  or  passive  obedience,  to  all 
such  orders  or  agreements  as  shall  be  made  for  public 
good  of  the  body  in  an  orderly  way,  by  the  major  as 
sent  of  the  present  inhabitants,  masters  of  families, 
incorporated  together  into  a  town- fellow  ship,  and  such 
others  whom  they  shall  admit  unto  them,  only  in  civil 
things." 

This  compact  plainly  indicates  their  civil  and  reli 
gious  sentiments.  They  declared  that  in  all  civil  things 
the  majority  should  govern,  but  left  every  one  at  liberty 
to  follow  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience  in  all  mat 
ters  of  religion.  About  the  year  1637,  another  settle 
ment  was  commenced  on  the  Island  of  Rhode  Island  by 
a  Mr.  Coddington  and  his  associates.  Among  their 
early  records  it  appears  that,  "  At  a  General  Court  of 
Elections,  it  was  ordered  and  unanimously  agreed,  that 
this  government  was  a  democracy,  or  popular  govern 
ment,  and  that  the  power  to  make  laws  and  depute 
magistrates  to  execute  them,  was  in  the  body  of  free 
men,  orderly  assembled,  or  a  major  part  of  them." 

Smarting  with  the  rigor  of  Puritan  intolerance,  they 
became  extremely  anxious  to  guard  their  own  colony 
against  any  encroachments  upon  their  religious  free 
dom  ;  therefore,  in  1638,  it  was  ordered  by  the  Gen 
eral  Court,  "  None  shall  be  received  as  inhabitants  or 
freemen,  to  build  or  plant  upon  the  island,  but  such  as 
shall  be  received  in,  by  consent  of  the  body,  and  do 
submit  to  the  government  that  is  or  shall  be  established 
according  to  the  word  of  God." 

It  is  obvious  that  the  sole  purpose  for  which  this 
order  was  made  was  to  exclude  from  that  community 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  15 

all  who  were  not  supporters  of  their  own  doctrine  of 
religious  liberty.  Freedom  of  opinion  in  all  matters 
of  conscience  was  made  the  test ;  no  other  qualification 
was  required. 

In  1644,  the  towns  of  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and 
Newport,  which  had  thus  far  been  separate  settlements 
or  townships,  were  united  under  one  government,  by  a 
charter  which  Roger  Williams,  through  the  aid  of  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  obtained  from  the  Parliament  under  the 
Commonwealth  of  England.  This  charter .  conferred 
upon  the  inhabitants  "  full  power  and  authority  to  gov 
ern  and  rule  themselves,  by  such  a  form  of  civil  gov 
ernment  as,  by  voluntary  consent  of  all  or  the  greatest 
part  of  them,  shall  be  found  most  serviceable  in  their 
estates  and  condition  "  —  provided  such  form  of  civil 
government  "  be  conformable  to  the  laws  of  England, 
so  far  as  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  place  will 
admit." 

This  charter,  which  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix, 
No.  1,  left  the  colonists  free  to  maintain  their  principles 
of  religious  liberty,  and  by  an  early  act  of  their  General 
Court,  it  was  ordered  that  "  all  men  may  walk  as  their 
consciences  persuade  them,  every  one  in  the  name  of 
his  God."  Bancroft,  describing  the  condition  of  Rhode 
Island  under  the  first  charter,  says,  "  All  men  were 
equal ;  all  might  meet  in  the  public  assemblies  ;  all 
might  aspire  to  office  ;  the  people  for  a  season  consti 
tuted  its  own  tribune,  and  every  public  law  required 
confirmation  in  the  primary  assemblies.  The  govern 
ment  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  con 
tinued  under  this  charter  until  1663,  when  the  inhab- 


16  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 

itants  of  the  colony,  fearing  that  a  commission  which 
had  been  obtained  from  Cromwell's  Parliament,  whilst 
Charles  II.  was  in  exile,  might  pot  be  respected  by 
him  on  his  return  to  the  throne,  petitioned  the  King, 
and  at  length,  through  the  agency  of  Mr.  John  Clarke, 
obtained  a  new  charter,  having  the  broad  seal  of  the 
crown,  and  the  signature  of  the  secretary  affixed.  For 
this  second  charter,  see  No.  £  of  the  Appendix. 

On  looking  over  the  early  history  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  Plantations,  we  find  that,  at  first,  two 
little  distinct  democratic  communities  were  established, 
one  at  Providence,  and  the  .  other  on  the  Island  of 
Rhode  Island.  In  a  few  years  we  find  that  by  consent 
of  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  in  both  settlements, 
without  ceremony  or  form  of  law,  the  two  colonies 
were  merged  in  one,  under  a  British  charter,  in  con 
formity  to  which  a  government  was  organized  and  con 
tinued  until  about  the  year  1663.  Then,  again,  a  por 
tion  of  the  inhabitants,  without  any  legal  forms  or  pro 
visions,  but  by  general  consent,  made  application  to  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  for  a  new  charter,  which  was  to 
make  radical  and  important  changes  in  their  system  of 
government.  Their  request  was  granted,  and  Mr. 
Baxter  proudly  returned  with  the  royal  document.  And 
how  was  it  adopted  ?  Not  by  a  formal  vote  in  town 
meeting,  but  the  people,  hearing  the  good  news,  ran  to 
gether  at  Newport,  and  received  it  by  one  spontaneous 
acclamation.  •  This  charter  was  a  written  compact  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  the  colonists  ;  it  implied  alle 
giance  on  the  one  part,  and  protection  on  the  other. 
The  colony  became  a  British  province,  its  inhabitants 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  17 

were  British  subjects,  and  all  the  authority  of  the  gov 
ernment  under  the  charter  was  derived  from  the  British 
crown.  This  good  old  charter,  as  it  has  often  been 
called,  continued  in  full  force  and  virtue  until  the  tie 
which  bound  the  colony  to  the  mother  country  was  sev 
ered  by  a  sovereign  act  of  the  people  when  they  de 
clared  themselves  independent.  As  soon  as  that  was 
done  —  as  soon  as  Rhode  Island,  with  her  sister  colo 
nies,  declared  herself  absolved  from  all  connection  with 
Great  Britain,  and  assumed  to  be  an  independent  state 
—  in  that  hour  the  good  old  charter  died,  and  forever 
after  became  a  dead  letter.  Here  was  a  complete  abro 
gation  of  all  its  constitutional  authority,  and  political 
power  returned  to  the  people  at  large.  Under  these 
circumstances  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colo 
ny,  in  accordance  with  those  democratic  principles 
which  had  marked  all  their  former  proceedings,  might 
have  instantly  set  themselves  at  work  to  form  and 
establish  a  written  constitution.  But  like  a  clap  of 
thunder  war  broke  upon  them,  and  they  had  no  quiet 
hours  to  deliberate  upon  a  constitution.  Rhode  Island 
was  of  easy  access  to  the  British  navy,  and  British 
troops  were  soon  quartered  in  her  bosom ;  public  and 
private  concerns  were  swallowed  up  in  the  spirit  of 
heroism  ;  they  left  "  the  deer  and  the  steer,  and  their 
nets  and  barges,"  and  rushed  to  the  defence  of  their 
common  country ;  and  nobly  did  they  acquit  them 
selves. 

Rhode  Island  soldiers  mingled  in  every  conflict ;  her 
Spartan  bands  fought  with  a  courage  and  determination 
never  surpassed ;  free  as  water  they  poured  their  blood 


18  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

upon  the  altar  of  their  country,  and  without  a  murmur 
cheerfully  sacrificed  their  lives  in  the  great  cause  of 
freedom  ;  and  through  all  future  time  that  state  may 
well  be  proud  of  the  part  she  bore  in  the  American 
Revolution. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  19 


CHAPTEK    II. 

THE  ABROGATION  OF  THE  ROYAL  CHARTER  BY  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  ITS  DEFECTS  AND 
PRACTICAL  INJUSTICE,  AND  EFFORTS  OF  THE  PEOPLE 
TO  BRING  ABOUT  A  CHANGE. 

As  we  have  said  before,  all  the  authority  of  the 
British  government  in  Ehode  Island  became  extin 
guished  as  soon  as  the  people  refused  to  recognize  it, 
and  declared  the  colony  independent ;  but  if  any  one 
should  be  disposed  to  deny  that,  there  can  certainly  be 
no  doubt  that  the  absolution  was  fully  consummated 
by  the  treaty  of  peace  made  in  1783.  Whatever 
period  may  be  fixed  upon  as  that  of  the  full  emancipa 
tion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony  from  the  govern 
ment  of  Great  Britain,  that  was  the  time  when  the 
official  authority  of  all  who  held  under  the  charter 
ceased  and  terminated ;  that  was  the  time  when  all  po 
litical  power  returned  to  the  people ;  the  officers  of  the 
government,  in  its  several  departments,  became  tenants 
at  will,  and  liable  at  any  time  to  be  ejected  by  the  peo 
ple  in  the  exercise  of  their  natural  and  unalienable 
rights ;  and  if  at  that  time,  as  they  had  twice  done 
before,  they  had  of  their  own  accord,  without  any  legal 
provision,  met  and  conferred  together  in  order  to  devise 
some  plan  by  which  the  sentiments  of  the  whole  people, 


20  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

or  the  major  part  of  them,  should  be  ascertained  and 
made  known,  and,  if  finally  a  decided  majority  had 
manifested  their  wishes  by  adopting,  in  a  regular  public 
manner,  a  written  constitution  for  the  government  of 
the  state,  such  constitution  would  have  been  of  un 
doubted  validity,  and  every  where  acknowledged  as  the 
supreme  law  of  the  state.  But  we  have  been  told  that 
when  the  authority  of  Charles  II.  ceased,  it  vested  im 
mediately  in  the  legislature.  Could  that  be  so  ?  Does 
the  agent  retain  power  after  the  authority  of  the  princi 
pal  who  granted  it  ceases  ?  Certainly  not.  That  would 
be  a  violation  of  every  principle  of  law  and  reason.  It 
must  therefore  be  acknowledged  that  there  was  a  time, 
after  the  abrogation  of  the  charter,  when  the  people 
of  Rhode  Inland  might  have  proceeded  in  their  own 
way  to  form  and  adopt  a  constitution.  They  were  no 
longer  a  colony  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  themselves  an 
independent,  sovereign  state.  Yet  they  suffered  the 
government  to  go  on  in  form  and  name  as  though  the 
old,  defunct  parchment  still  retained  its  original  validi 
ty  ;  and  from  1776  to  1841  the  people  made  no  efficient 
effort  to  establish  a  written  constitution. 

Now,  if,  in  1776,  the  inhabitants,  or  a  major  part  of 
them,  might  rightfully  and  properly  have  proceeded,  in 
their  own  way,  and  formed  a  written  constitution, 
when,  we  ask,  did  that  right  cease?  When  was  it 
forfeited  ?  Why  might  not  the  inhabitants  of  that  ter 
ritory  as  well  and  as  rightfully  proceed,  in  their  origi 
nal,  sovereign  capacity,  to  form  and  establish  a  written 
rule  of  government  in  1841,  as  at  any  former  period  ? 
It  is  said  to  be  a  maxim  in  the  English  government, 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  2 

that  "  time  does  not  run  against  the  King."  By  this 
rule,  in  a  democratic  government,  time  does  not  run 
against  the  people,  and,  therefore,  what  they  had  a  right 
to  do  in  1776,  they  had  a  right  to  do  in  1841. 

But  we  are  told  that  a  government  once  established 
cannot  be  rightfully  changed  otherwise  than  through  the 
government  itself.  According  to  that  doctrine,  as  soon 
as  a  government  of  any  sort  is  once "  set  up,  whatever 
may  be  its  effects  or  tendencies,  the  people  lose  all 
control  over  it,  and  are  forever  bound  to  yield  obedi 
ence  to  it,  unless,  by  humbling  themselves,  they  can 
induce  the  powers  that  be  to  modify  it.  These  are  not 
democratic,  but  despotic,  doctrines,  and  they  ill  be 
come  the  American  Republic. 

We  are  told  that  when  the  people  wish  to  bring 
about  a  change  in  their  government,  they  must  do  it  in 
a  constitutional  manner,  and  proceed  according  to  pre 
scribed  forms.  This  might  be  true  to  a  certain  extent, 
when  the  state  already  had  a  written  constitution  which 
contained  provisions  for  its  amendment.  But  Rhode 
Island  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  a  constitution  at 
the  time  the  controversy  broke  out.  After  the  people, 
by  their  declaration  of  independence,  had  annulled  the 
authority  of  the  royal  charter,  they  never  proposed  to 
adopt  that  instrument  as  the  constitution  of  the  state  ; 
and  if  they  had  done  so,  it  would  have  afforded  them 
no  relief,  because  it  contained  no  provision  for  any 
change.  That  power  was  vested  exclusively  in  the 
British  crown.  The  people  themselves  could  never 
change  it ;  therefore  no  such  provision  was  made. 

Under  these   circumstances,  the  people  must  either 


%%  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

yield  an  abject  submission  to  a  government  which  was 
little  better  than  usurpation  —  a  government  which  ac 
knowledged  no  constitutional  limits  to  its  authority,  and 
denied  the  natural  rights  of  men  —  or  they  must  seek 
relief  by  an  appeal  to  a  majority  of  the  people  in 
their  sovereign  capacity.  They  chose  the  latter  :  and 
although  the  result  was  disastrous  to  some  of  its  prin 
cipal  agents,  yet  the  time  will  come  when  the  world 
will  applaud  their  course,  and  justify  their  conduct. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  point  out  some  of  the  prin 
cipal  causes  which  induced  the  people  to  desire  a  reform. 

And  first,  it  was  thought  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
honor  and  dignity  of  the  people  of  a  sovereign  state  to 
suffer  the  government  to  be  regulated  by  a  musty  char 
ter,  which  never  had  any  authority  except  as  a  com 
mission  from  a  British  King.  After  the  authority  of  the 
crown  was  repudiated,  the  legislature  assumed  absolute 
and  unlimited  power ;  that  body  claimed  the  right  to 
regulate  the  elective  franchise,  and  made  and  unmade 
their  own  electors ;  it  held  and  exercised  a  most  im 
proper  and  dangerous  influence  over  the  judiciary  by 
making  the  judges  dependent  on  that  body  for  their 
annual  election.  This  was  the  precarious  tenure  by 
which  every  judge  in  the  state  held  his  office. 

In  such  a  condition,  there  could  be  no  safe  and  inde 
pendent  judiciary.  Both  the  judges  and  the  causes 
which  they  were  to  determine  became  the  sport  of  par 
ty  controversies.  It  has  been  elsewhere  eloquently 
said,  "  A  judge  should  sit  serenely  above  all  the  storms 
of  political  strife,  that  he  may  rightly  divide  the  justice 
of  the  law  between  man  and  man ;  he  should  have 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  23 

nothing  to  hope  from  party  ascendency,  and  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  fall  of  political  friends." 

The  Hon.  William  E.  Goddard,  late  Professor  of 
Moral  Philosophy  in  Brown  University,  in  an  address 
delivered  at  the  inauguration  of  the  legislature  under 
the  present  constitution,  at  Newport,  May  3,  1843, 
made  use  of  the  following  language,  as  appears  from  a 
printed  report  of  that  address  :  — 

"  In  truth,  my  fellow-citizens,  without  a  judiciary 
which  feels  itself  to  be  independent  of  the  legislative 
power,  no  constitution  is  worth  the  parchment  upon 
which  it  is  engrossed.  Without  a  judiciary  there  can 
be  no  freedom  under  a  popular  government.  Without 
such  a  judiciary,  civilization  in  its  higher  forms  can 
make  no  advance." 

And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  declaration  was 
publicly  and  solemnly  made  by  one  who  eulogized  the 
old  royal  charter,  and  bitterly  opposed  the  people's  con 
stitution. 

The  restriction  of  the  privilege  of  suffrage  to  free 
holders  and  their  eldest  sons  excluded  from  voting 
quite  a  large  class  of  citizens,  and  incidentally  became 
the  cause  of  much  fraud  and  corruption  at  the  polls. 
In  1841,  and  for  many  years  previous,  the  right  to  vote 
was  limited  by  law  to  such  only  as  could  show  a  deed 
of  some  freehold  estate,  supposed  to  be  worth  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty -four  dollars,  and  the  eldest  sons  of  such 
freeholders.  In  times  of  strong  party  excitement,  a 
great  portion  of  the  unscrupulous  non-freeholders  were 
qualified  to  vote  by  sham  deeds  of  estates  in  which  they 
really  had  no  interest ;  and  to  so  great  an  extent  was  this 


24  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

fraud  carried,  that  in  many  towns  it  was  supposed  that 
one  fourth  of  all  who  voted  in  town  meeting  were  so 
qualified.  In  many  instances  one  sham  deed,  by  qual 
ifying  the  father,  made  two  voters  by  qualifying  his 
eldest  son  at  the  same  time.  It  will  be  recollected, 
also,  that  many  of  those  who  consented  to  be  thus  qual 
ified  were  not  of  the  most  reliable  class  of  citizens,  be 
cause  many  high-minded  men  despised  such  dishonest 
means. 

When  her  brave  soldiers  returned  from  the  war  of  the 
revolution,  scarred,  broken  down,  and  exhausted  by  their 
long  service  in  the  cause  of  their  country,  a  great  ma 
jority  found  themselves  excluded  and  shut  out  from  all 
participation  in  that  government  for  which  they  had  la 
bored  so  ardently,  and  sacrificed  so  much.  They  found 
the  government  a  landed  oligarchy,  and  because  they 
had  become  poor  in  the  service  of  their  country,  and  had 
little  left  but  worthless  continental  paper,  although  they 
had  been  victorious  abroad,  they  found  themselves  out 
lawed  at  home.  They  were  told  that  non-freeholders 
were  not  considered  as  citizens,  that  they  had  no  natu 
ral  rights,  and  that  the  word  people  meant  those,  and 
those  only,  who  had  been  made  such  by  legislative 
enactment. 

As  agriculture  declined,  and  commercial,  mechanical, 
and  manufacturing  employments  increased,  the  number 
excluded  from  the  privilege  of  voting  was  continually 
on  the  increase,  so  that  some  in  every  town,  and  large 
numbers  of  good  citizens  in  many  towns,  were  cut  off 
from  the  privilege  of  voting.  Many  of  these  disfran 
chised  citizens  owned  large  amounts  of  personal  estate ; 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  ^5 

among  them  were  men  of  learning,  enterprise,  and 
character.  In  many  towns  they  paid  a  large  share  of 
the  taxes,  and  throughout  the  state  they  constituted  by 
far  the  largest  portion  of  the  military  ;  they  were  re 
quired  by  law  to  purchase  and  provide  themselves  with 
arms  and  military  equipments,  to  perform  duty  at  stated 
times  in  every  year,  and  to  hold  themselves  in  readi 
ness  for  any  service  which  the  state  authorities  might 
require  of  them  ;  and  yet,  for  all  this,  they  received  no 
compensation,  but  were  denounced  by  the  charter  au 
thorities  as  the  rabble,  that  had  no  interest  in  the  gov 
ernment  of  their  country. 

The  charter  legislature  claimed  to  be  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  state,  and  exercised  unrestricted  control 
over  the  elective  franchise  ;  and  although  in  1841,  only 
real  estate  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
dollars  was  required  to  make  a  freeman,  yet  the  amount 
required  had  formerly  been  much  higher.  In  1729, 
two  hundred  pounds,  or  more  than  six  hundred  dollars, 
was  required,  and  in  1746,  the  legislature  passed  an 
act  restricting  the  right  to  vote  to  those  only  who  at  the 
time  of  their  voting  possessed  in  their  own  right  real 
estate  of  the  value  of  four  hundred  pounds,  or  some 
thing  more  than  thirteen  hundred  dollars  ;  yet  the  right 
of  primogeniture  was  always  respected,  and  the  eldest 
sons  of  qualified  freeholders  were  always  allowed  to 
vote  ;  and  this  feudal  right  was  continued  by  the  char 
ter  government  up  to  the  time  of  the  present  consti 
tution. 

There  can  be  no  more  dangerous  feature  in  any  gov 
ernment  than  the  control  of  the  elective  franchise  by 


06  •  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

the  legislature ;  because,  in  that  case,  there  is  no  legal 
impediment  between  free'dom  and  despotism. 

But  the  denial  of  the  right  to  vote  was  not  the  only 
disability  to  which  non-freeholders  were  subjected.  A 
non-freeholder,  by  himself,  without  the  aid  of  some 
freeholder,  was  not  protected  by  the  laws  of  the  state ; 
he  could  not  commence  or  maintain  any  action  for  the 
collection  of  a  debt,  and  if  he  was  assaulted  and 
wounded  in  his  person,  he  could  have  no  process  against 
the  offender,  unless  some  freeholder  would  consent  to 
indorse  his  name  upon  the  back  of  the  writ.  By 
statute  this  was  required  in  every  case  before  a  non- 
freeholder  could  pray  out  a  writ,  and  without  such  in 
dorsement  the  law  afforded  him  no  protection  whatever. 
Again,  non-freeholders  were  not  allowed  to  serve  as 
jurors,  yet  they  were  required  in  all  cases  to  be  tried 
by  juries  composed  exclusively  of  freeholders  ;  the  non- 
freeholder,  therefore,  was  not  tried  by  a  jury  of  his- 
peers,  but  by  a  privileged  class  to  which  he  did  not 
belong.  This  was  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  great 
principle  of  common  law,  which  allows  every  man  to 
be  tried  by  his  equals. 

It  is  said  that  the  charter  of  Charles  II.  was  first 
drawn  up  in  Rhode  Island,  according  to  the  views  and 
wishes  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  and  subsequently 
carried  to  England  to  receive  the  royal  signature  -r  and 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  assignment  of  representa 
tives  to  the  several  towns  was  fair,  and  based  upon  the 
population  at  that  time.  Newport,  which  had  the 
largest  number  of  inhabitants,  was  allowed  six  ;  Ports 
mouth,  Warwick,  and  Providence,  being  perhaps  about 


THOMAS    WILSON    DOfcR»  27 

equal  iii  population,  were  each  allowed  four  ;  and,  that 
none  should  be  unrepresented,  every  other  town  was 
allowed  two  representatives.  But,  in  1841,  almost 
two  centuries  had  passed  since  the  adoption  of  the 
charter,  and  the  population  had  so  changed  as  to  make 
that  allotment  very  unequal.  From  the  census  of  the 
United  States  for  1840,  it  appears  that  the  town  of 
Providence  had  at  that  time  more  than  forty  thousand 
inhabitants,  which  was  very  near  one  third  of  the  whole 
population  of  the  state  at  that  time ;  yet  Providence 
was  allowed  but  four  representatives  in  the  legislature, 
whilst  every  small  town  continued  to  send  two.  Several 
of  these  towns  had  each  less  than  one  thousand  inhab 
itants,  and  by  comparing  the  census  of  the  state  with  the 
charter,  it  is  seen  that  less  than  one  third  of  the  inhab 
itants  of  the  state  under  the  charter  elected  a  majority 
of  the  representatives  in  the  legislature.  And  if  we 
examine  the  subject  still  more  closely,  we  shall  find 
that  a  little  more  than  one  third  of  that  third,  or  one 
ninth  of  the  whole  number  of  inhabitants,  might  con 
trol  the  legislature.  According  to  the  census  of  1840, 
the  number  of  white  male  citizens  over  twenty-one 
years  of  age  was  about  twenty-five  thousand ;  and  we 
find  from  authentic  returns,  that  the  whole  number  of 
votes  polled  that  year  for  presidential  electors  was 
eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-two.  This,  we 
believe,  was  the  largest  vote  ever  polled  under  the 
charter.  By  this  it  appears  that  only  about  one  third 
of  all  the  male  citizens  over  twenty-one  years  of  age 
were  voters,  and  this  third  in  the  small  towns,  as  we 
said  before,  elected  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives. 


28  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 

V, 

Under  these  circumstances  the  intelligent,  liberal- 
minded  young  men  felt  aggrieved ;  and  it  is  said  that 
some  even  removed  out  of  the  state  for  no  other  reason 
than  because  they  were  held  as  vassals  at  home.  When 
they  looked  abroad,  they  saw  no  such  invidious  distinc 
tion  in  any  other  state.  They  found  non-freeholders 
and  young  men  respected  as  citizens,  and  often  occupy 
ing  responsible  official  stations.  The  disparaged  con 
dition  of  non-freeholders  in  Rhode  Island  was  dishon 
orable  to  the  state,  and  humiliating  to  its  citizens ;  it 
repressed  emulation  and  discouraged  enterprise. 

Now,  under  all  the  circumstances  which  have  been 
mentioned,  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  an  intelligent 
people,  who  were  jealous  of  their  rights,  would  be  very 
desirous  to  bring  about  important  changes  in  the  gov 
ernment  ;  and  a  history  of  their  proceedings  shows 
that  to  have  been  the  case.  Soon  after  the  revolution, 
Congress  recommended  to  the  several  states  to  organize 
governments  and  form  constitutions  which  should  be 
adapted  to  the  great  change  which  had  taken  place  in 
their  condition,  and  nearly  all  the  states  complied  with 
the  recommendation.  A  committee  was  soon  after 
appointed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Khode  Island 
to  take  the  matter  into  consideration  ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  that  they  made  any  report.  In  1797,  the  neces 
sity  of  forming  a  constitution  was  zealously  urged  by 
some  of  their  ablest  statesmen.  In  1811,  the  subject 
was  again  brought  before  the  legislature,  and  air  act 
extending  the  right  of  suffrage  passed  the  Senate,  but 
was  rejected  in  the  House.  Again,  in  1820,  the  subject 
was  agitated  ;  and  a  convention  was  holden  in  the 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  89 

county  of  Providence  to  consider  what  measures  should 
be  made  use  of  to  bring  about  the  desired  reform.  It 
was  there  declared  "  that  a  free  people  have  for  more 
than  forty  years  submitted  to  a  species  of  government  in 
theory,  if  not  always  in  practice,  as  despotic  tis  that  of 
the  autocrat  of  the  Russias" 

And,  speaking  of  the  General  Assembly,  they  said, 
"  That  omnipotent  body  should  consider  that  the  people 
are  competent  to  form  a  convention  for  themselves,  and 
that  any  longer  delay  on  the  part  of  the  legislature 
would  be  likely  to  produce  such  a  result." 

In  1824,  a  convention,  called  the  "  Freemen's  Con 
vention,"  met  and  formed  a  constitution.  This  consti 
tution  did  not  answer  the  demands  of  the  people ;  it 
made  no  extension  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  but  pro 
posed,  by  a  constitutional  enactment,  to  place  relief  be 
yond  the  power  of  the  legislature.  This  constitution 
Was  submitted  to  the  "  freemen  *'  only,  and  by  them 
rejected. 

In  1829,  several  petitions  and  memorials,  asking  for 
a  republican  constitution  and  an  extension  of  suffrage, 
were  presented  to  the  legislature.  These  memorials 
contained,  in  all,  the  names  of  about  two  thousand 
men,  who  certified  that  they  were  permanent  residents 
of  the  state  ;  many  of  the  signers  were  freeholders, 
and  known  to  be  of  good  standing  in  the  community. 
These  memorials  were  referred  to  a  committee,  of  whom 
the  Hon.  Benjamin  Hazard,  of  Newport,  was  chairman. 
That  committee  made  a  very  long  report,  which  was 
printed  and  extensively  circulated.  The  committee,  in 
their  report,  assumed  a  tone  of  authority  which  was 
3* 


30  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

evidently  designed  to  repress  the  efforts  of  the  people, 
and  give  them  to  understand  that  the  General  Assembly 
would  never  make  any  concessions  to  them.  Although 
the  committee  knew,  and  every  body  knew,  that  every 
other  state  in  the  Union  had  long  since  given  their 
musty  charters  to  the  moles  and  the  bats,  and  were 
governed  by  written  constitutions,  which  the  people  had 
formed  and  adopted  for  themselves,  yet  the  committee 
proceeded  to  say  of  the  charter  of  Charles  II.,  "  No 
constitution  before  or  since  the  revolution  has  been 
framed  —  none  can  be  framed  —  more  free  and  pop 
ular." 

The  committee  well  knew  that  the  charter  govern 
ment  in  Rhode  Island  was  the  subject  of  ridicule 
abroad ;  but  their  report  goes  on  to  say,  "  Let  strangers, 
if  they  please,  treat  this  instrument  with  levity,  and 
hold  it  up  as  a  reproach  to  the  state,  but  let  us  continue 
to  be  proud  of  it."  The  committee  say  that  they  can 
not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  term  "  natural 
rights,"  and  declare  that  the  only  political  right  which 
belongs  to  men  in  society  is  the  fight  to  comply  with 
the  demands  of  their  rulers.  They  declare  that  "  the 
whole  science  of  legislation  and  jurisprudence  is  exer 
cised  in  application  to  the  rights  of  property,"  and  that 
those  who  have  little  or  no  property  have  "  no  claims 
upon  us  more  than  the  rights  of  hospitality,  and  the 
protection  of  our  laws."  The  committee  go  on  to 
argue  the  feudal  right  of  the  eldest  son  to  vote,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  younger  brothers ;  and  although  it 
was  held  that  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state  was 
fixed  in  the  General  Assembly,  yet  they  declared  in 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  31 

their  report  that  that  body  had  no  power  to  grant  the 
relief  which  the  petitioners  asked  for.  The  report  says, 
te  If  the  representatives  of  the  people,  chosen  for  the 
ordinary  purposes  of  legislation,  could  assume  a  control 
over  the  right  of  suffrage,  to  limit,  curtail,  or  extend  it 
at  will,  they  might  on  the  one  hand  disfranchise  any 
portion  they  pleased  of  their  own  electors,  and  thereby 
deprive  them  of  power  ever  to  remove  their  representa 
tives,  and  therefore  reduce  the  government  to  a  perma 
nent  aristocracy." 

Now,  the  committee  who  made  that  report,  and  held 
up  to  the  petitioners  the  danger  that  would  attend  the 
exercise  of  that  power  by  a  legislative  body,  knew  very 
well,  at  the  same  time,  that  their  own  General  Assembly 
had  claimed  and  exercised  that  same  unjust  and  danger 
ous  power  for  nearly  two  hundred  years  ;  and  it  was 
nothing  less  than  gross  insult  and  mockery  to  foist  upon 
the  petitioners  the  tissue  of  reproach  and  falsehood  of 
which  that  report  was  made  up. 

In  conclusion,  the  committee  say,  "We  ought  to 
recollect  that  all  the  evils  which  may  result  from  an 
extension  of  suffrage  will  be  evils  beyond  our  reach. 
"We  shall  entail  them  upon  our  latest  posterity  without 
remedy.  Open  this  door,  and  the  whole  frame  and 
character  of  our  institutions  are  changed  forever." 

We  have  been  thus  particular  in  noting  that  report, 
because  it  was  intended  as  a  final  answer  to  all  applica 
tions  for  the  extension  of  suffrage,  or  a  written  consti 
tution.  It  was  considered  at  the  time  to  be  a  masterly 
production,  and  held  by  the  government  to  be  perfectly 
orthodox  in  sentiment.  A  very  able  member  of  the 


32  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 

legislature  at  that  time  made  the  following  declaration 
in  the  House  of  Representatives :  "  Sir,  I  conceive  that 
this  body  has  the  same  power  over  the  non-freeholders 
of  this  state  that  the  Almighty  has  over  the  universe." 

In  1832,  the  same  subject  was  agitated  without  effect. 
In  1834,  a  constitutional  party  was  organized,  which, 
after  struggling  two  or  three  years,  was  abandoned.  In 
the  mean  time  another  "  freeholders'  "  convention  was 
called  to  draught  a  constitution.  This  convention,  by  a 
vote  of  about  ten  to  one,  refused  to  extend  the  right  of 
suffrage,  and  after  a  session  of  two  or  three  weeks, 
dismissed  the  whole  subject  and  returned  home.  Thus 
matters  went  on  until  1840,  and  nothing  was  accom 
plished.  For  nearly  half  a  century  the  people  had 
been  struggling  against  the  tyranny  of  an  unauthorized 
legislature,  in  fruitless  endeavors  to  obtain  a  republican 
constitution,  that  should  protect  them  from  the  abuses 
of  power,  and  guarantee  equal  rights  to  all  the  citizens. 
During  that  half  century,  the  government  had  succeed 
ed  in  baffling  every  effort  of  the  people.  Time  after 
time  the  disfranchised,  in  the  language  of  humble  sup 
plicants,  implored  the  government  to  recognize  them 
as  citizens,  and  grant  them  relief.  Time  after  time, 
they  were  driven  away,  as  from  the  throne  of  a  despot, 
and  obliged  to  abandon  their  efforts  in  hopeless  despair. 
One  class  of  applicants  became  worn  out,  and  retired  — 
others  followed  them  —  again  and  again  the  people  re 
newed  their  efforts  with  the  same  mortifying  result,  and 
a  whole  generation  passed  away  in  fruitless  endeavors 
to  establish  a  republican  form  of  government. 

The  people  of  Rhode  Island,  a  quiet,  peace-loving, 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  33 

law-abiding  community,  submitted  to  the  tyranny, 
whilst  they  still  clung  to  their  own  anchor  of  hope, 
confiding  in  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  looking  to 
an  overruling  Providence  for  ultimate  success.  When, 
we  ask,  in  the  history  of  the  whole  world,  has  an  en 
lightened  people  borne  so  long  and  so  much  ? 


34  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROCEEDINGS      OF      THE     PEOPLE      IN      FORMING      AND 
ADOPTING   A   CONSTITUTION. 

THE  extraordinary  excitement  which  attended  the 
presidential  election,  in  1840,  for  a  time  overcame  all 
local  interests,  and  nearly  all  those  who  had  previously 
composed  the  suffrage  party  were  drawn  into  the  ranks 
of  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  great  contending  parties. 
But  as  soon  as  that  election  was  over,  and  its  temporary 
enthusiasm  quieted,  the  disfranchised,  with  other  liberal- 
minded  citizens  of  the  state,  returned  again  to  the  con 
sideration  of  a  written  constitution.  To  the  friends  of 
suffrage  the  field  now  appeared  clear  of  almost  all  other 
political  controversies,  and  all  seemed  to  say,  "  Now  is 
the  day  and  now  is  the  hour "  to  strike  for  constitu 
tional  liberty.  The  subject  assumed  a  grave  aspect, 
and  engaged  the  serious  attention  of  the  people  of  the 
whole  state.  Men  of  the  highest  legal  attainments, 
who  were  not  influenced  by  selfish  motives,  entered  into 
the  interests  of  the  suffrage  party,  anol  the  best  judges 
of  constitutional  matters,  in  and  out  of  the  state,  de 
cided  that  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  had  an  undoubted 
right  to  form  and  adopt  a  written  constitution,  without 
the  concurrence  of  the  legislature.  The  people  were 
assured  that  the  American  governments  were  founded 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  35 


upon  popular  sovereignty,  and  that  the  expressed  will 
of  a  decided  majority  of  the  people  must  be  regarded 
as  the  supreme  law  of  the  state. 

The  course  of  the  suffrage  party  now  seemed  clear. 
A  large  association  was  organized  in  Providence,  and 
auxiliary  associations  were  soon  formed  in  other  parts 
of  the  state.  At  the  January  session  of  the  General 
Assembly,  1841,  a  memorial,  numerously  signed,  was 
received  from  the  town  of  Smithfield,  asking  for  an  ad 
dition  to  the  number  of  her  representatives  in  the  legis 
lature.  Upon  that  memorial  the  House  passed  the  fol 
lowing  resolution  :  — 

Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly,  (the  Senate  con 
curring  with  the  House  of  Representatives  therein,)  That 
the  freemen  of  the  several  towns  in  this  state,  and 
of  the  city  of  Providence,  qualified  to  vote  for  general 
officers,  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  requested  to  choose,  at 
their  semi-annual  town  or  ward  meetings  in  August  next, 
so  many  delegates,  and  of  like  qualifications,  as  they 
are  now  respectively  entitled  to  choose  representatives 
to  the  General  Assembly,  to  attend  a  convention  to  be 
holden  at  Providence  on  the  first  Monday  of  Novem 
ber,  1841,  to  frame  a  new  constitution  for  this  state, 
either  in  whole  or  in  part,  with  full  powers  for  this 
purpose  ;  and  if  only  for  a  constitution  in  part,  that  said 
convention  have  under  their  especial  consideration  the 
expediency  of  equalizing  the  representation  of  the 
towns  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

It  will  be  seen  that  none  but  qualified  freemen  were 
allowed  to  vote  for  delegates  to  that  convention. 

The  action  of  the  legislature  upon  that  petition 
plainly  showed  a  fixed  determination  to  yield  nothing 
to  the  people,  and  the  friends  of  reform  became 


36  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 

satisfied  that  nothing  could  be  gained  by  applications  to 
the  General  Assembly,  and  therefore  resolved,  as  a  last 
resort,  to  carry  their  cause  before  the  whole  people  of 
the  state.  Accordingly,  a  mass  meeting  was  convened 
in  the  city  of  Providence,  on  the  18th  of  April,  1841. 
Here  several  thousands  assembled,  and  in  a  quiet  and 
orderly  manner,  conferred  together  upon  the  great  ques 
tion  at  issue.  This  mass  convention  adjourned  to  meet 
at  Newport  on  the  5th  of  May  following.  The  ad 
journed  meeting  was  numerously  attended,  and  a  large 
number  of  highly  respected  freeholders  were  among  its 
most  active  members.  The  following  preamble  and 
resolutions  were  passed  at  that  meeting  :  — 

Whereas,  It  is  the  undeniable  right  of  the  people, 
at  all  times,  peaceably  to  assemble  for  consultation  and 
conference  touching  the  government  under  which  they 
live,  and  which  they  assist  in  supporting  ;  and  inde 
pendently  to  utter  and  set  forth,  on  such  occasions  of 
meeting  together,  their  views,  sentiments,  and  plans 
relative  to  the  correction,  as  well  of  defects  in  the 
organization  of  government,  as  of  faults  in  the  ad 
ministration  of  the  same  :  We,  a  portion  of  the  people 
of  this  state,  now  assembled  at  Newport  in  mass  con 
vention,  from  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  acting  on  be 
half  of  the  great  body  of  our  unenfranchised  fellow- 
citizens,  do  declare  their  and  our  opinions  and  purposes 
in  the  following  resolutions  :  — 

1.  Resolved,  That  it  is  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence,  and  derogatory 
to  the  character  of  Rhode  Island  republicans,  to  ac 
knowledge  the  charter  of  a  British  King  as  a  constitu 
tion  of  political  government.  While  we  venerate  the 
illustrious  names  of  Roger  Williams  and  John  Clarke, 
to  whose  untiring  ability  and  perseverance  the  colony 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  37 

of  Rhode  Island  was  indebted  for  this  grant  from  the 
throne  of  England,  so  well  adapted  at  the  time  to  the 
wants  of  his  majesty's  subjects,  and  so  liberal  in  its 
concessions,  —  we  are  at  the  same  time  aware  that  in 
almost  all  respects,  excepting  the  immortal  declaration 
and  guarantee  of  religious  freedom,  it  has  become  insuf 
ficient  and  obsolete  ;  that  it  should  be  laid  aside  in 
the  archives  of  the  state,  and  no  longer  be  permitted 
to  subsist  as  a  barrier  against  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  people. 

2.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  convention, 
on  the  occurrence   of  the  American  revolution,  when 
the  ties  of  allegiance  which  bound  the  subjects  of  this 
colony  to  the   throne   of  England  were  dissolved,  the 
rights  of  sovereignty,  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
of  republican  government,  passed  to  the  whole  body  of 
the  people  of  this  state,  and  not  to  any  special  or  fa 
vored  portion  of  the  same  ;  that  the  whole  people  were, 
and  are,  the  just  and  rightful  successors  of  the  British 
King,  and  as  such  were  and  are  entitled  to  alter,  amend, 
or  annul  the  form  and  provisions  of  government  then 
and  now  subsisting,  with  the  sole  restriction  imposed 
by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  and,  in  their 
original  and  sovereign  capacity,  to  devise  and  substitute 
such  a  constitution  as  they  may  deem  to  be  best  adapted 
to  the  general  welfare. 

3.  Resolved,  That  no  lapse  of  time  can  bar  the  sover 
eignty  inherent  in  the    people  of  this  state ;  and  that 
their   omission   to   form   a   constitution,   and  their  tol 
eration  of  the   abuses   under  which  they  have  so  long 
labored,  are  to  be  regarded  as  proof  of  their  long  suf 
fering  and  forbearance,  rather  than  as  arguments  against 
their  power   and   their    capacity  to    right    themselves, 
whenever,  in  their  opinion,  redress   from  the   govern 
ments  at  present  subsisting  is  hopeless. 

4.  Resolved,   That  the   time  has  now  fully  arrived 
for  a  vigorous  and  concentrated  effort  to  accomplish  a 

4 


§8  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

thorough  and  permanent  reform  in  the  political  institu 
tions  of  this  state. 

5.  Resolved,  That  a  system  of   government  under 
which  the  legislative  body  exercise  power  undefined  and 
uncontrolled  by  fundamental  laws,  according  to  its  own 
"  especial  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion," 
and  limits  and  restricts,  and  makes   and  unmakes,  the 
people  at  its  pleasure,  is  anti-republican,  and  odious  in 
its  character  and  operations,  at  war  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  and  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  every  right- 
minded  Rhode  Island  man,  and  ought  to  be  abated. 

6.  Resolved,  That  the  public   good  imperatively  re 
quires  that  the  powers  of  the  legislature,  and  rights  of 
the  citizens,  should  be  denned  and  fixed  by  a  written 
state  constitution. 

7.  Resolved,  That  the  representation  of  the  towns  in 
the  General  Assembly,  as  originally  established  by  the 
provisions  of  the  chatter  of  King  Charles  II.,  had  ref- 
ference  to  the  then  existing  population  of  the  same,  and 
was  at  that  time  not  unfairly  adjusted  to  it ;  but  that,  by 
the  great  increase  of  population  in  the  towns,  the  exist 
ing  apportionment  has  become  exceedingly  unequal  and 
unjust  in  its  operations ;  and  that  a  new  assignment  of 
representatives  among  the  towns,  according  to  popula 
tion,  will  be  an  indispensable  article  in  a  constitution 
for  this  state.     A  majority  of  the  representatives  to  the 
General  Assembly  are  now  elected  by  towns  containing 
less  than  one  third  of  the  population  of  the  state,  and 
some   of  the  towns   from  twice  to  twenty  times  what 
they  are  entitled  to  under  the  just  principles  of  distri 
bution  above  named  —  an  inequality  not  uncommon   in 
the  monarchies  of  Europe,  but  with  the  single  excep 
tion  of  Rhode  Island,  unknown  in  the  United  States. 

8.  Resolved,  That,  at  the  foundation  of  this  state, 
and  long  after,  property  in  land  was  not  only  the  prin 
cipal  property  of  the  citizens,  but  was  so  easily  attaina 
ble,  that  a  landed  qualification  for  voters  (first  definitely 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  39 

established  in  the  colony  by  the  legislature  in  1724) 
excluded  only  a  small  portion  of  the  people  from  polit 
ical  power ;  but  that  the  circumstances  of  the  peo 
ple  have  since  greatly  changed,  and  the  existing 
qualification  for  voting  has  the  effect,  contrary  to  the 
designs  of  those  who  first  established  it,  of  excluding 
the  great  majority  of  sixteen  thousand,  or  twenty -five 
thousand,  over  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  from  all 
political  privileges,  and  participation  in  the  affairs  of 
government ;  and  that,  although  we  entertain  a  high 
and  becoming  respect  for  farmers,  and  their  just  influ 
ence  in  the  state,  we  are  not  insensible. to  the  merits  of 
their  younger  sons  —  of  the  mechanics,  the  merchants, 
the  workingmen,  and  others  —  who  own  no  land  ;  and 
that  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  longer  continuance  of 
a  landed  qualification  for  voters  is  a  great  injustice,  and 
is  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  principles  of  a  republican 
government ;  and  that  a  constitution  for  this  state  will 
be  altogether  insufficient,  unsatisfactory,  and  impracti 
cable,  that  does  not  restore  to  the  body  of  the  people 
of,  this  state  the  rights  and  principles  of  American 
citizens. 

9.  Resolved,  That  a  continuance  of  the  provisions  of 
the  charter  relating  to  representation,  and  of  the  act  of 
the  legislature  requiring  a  freehold  estate  to  entitle  a 
citizen  to  vote  for  public  officers,  has  the  effect  not  only 
to  vest  the  control  of  the  General  Assembly,  as  we  have 
before  seen,  in  less  than  one  third  of  the  population, 
but  as  the  voters  in  this  third  are  only  a  third   part  of 
the  whole  number  of  male  adult   citizens,  this  further 
effect  also  —  the  most  odious   of  all  —  of  placing  the 
control  of  the  Assembly  and  the  state  in  one  ninth  part 
of    its    adult   population ;  or,  in  other  words,    in    the 
hands  of  less  than  three  thousand  men  out  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  who  are  over  twenty-one  years  of  age. 

10.  Resolved,  That  such  a  state  of  things  is  a  bold 
and  hardy  defiance  of  all  popular  rights,  and  is  a  total 


40  THE-  LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

departure  from  the  principles  advanced  at  the  first  ses 
sion  of  the  General  Assembly  in  the  year  1647,  who 
then  solemnly  declared  and  voted  that  the  government 
of  this  state  should  be  a  democracy. 

11.  Resolved,   That  the   American  system  of    gov 
ernment  is  a  government  of  men,  and  not  of  property  ; 
and  that  while  it  provides  for  the  ample  protection  and 

-  safe  enjoyment  and  transmission  of  property,  it  confers 
upon  it  no  political  advantages,  but  regards  all  men  as 
free  and  equal,  and  exacts  from  them  no  price  for  the 
exercise  of  their  birthright ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  un 
doubted  rights  and  privileges  of  the  people,  as  well  as 
the  true  honor  and  prosperity  of  the  state,  can  only  be 
completely  obtained  and  permanently  insured  by  a  writ 
ten  constitution,  whose  framers  shall  be  chosen  from  the 
people  of  the  towns,  in  proportion  to  population,  and 
which  shall  be  approved  and  ratified  by  the  people  at 
large ;  and  that,  in  the  exercise  of  this  high  act  of  sov 
ereignty,  every  American  citizen,  whose  actual  perma 
nent  residence  or  home  is  in  this  state,  has  a  right  to 
participate.  And  we  accordingly  pledge  ourselves  in 
dividually  to  each  other,  and  collectively  to  the  public, 
that  we  will  use  our  unremitting  exertions  for  such  a 
constitution,  in  the  way  that  has  been  described. 

12.  Resolved,  That  we   disclaim  all  action  with  or 
for  any  particular  party  in  this  great  question  of  state 
rights,  reserving  to  ourselves  individually  our  own  opin 
ions  on  all  matters  of  state  or  national  politics,  which  we 
call  upon  no  man  to  sacrifice  ;  and  that  we  heartily  invite 
the  earnest  cooperation  of  men  of  all  political  parties 
in  the  cause  which  we  have  at  heart,  and  which  we  be 
lieve  to  be  the  cause  of  liberty,  equality,  and  justice  to 
all  men. 

13.  Resolved,  That   the  General  Assembly    should 
have  called  the  convention  to  frame   a  constitution  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  apportion  the  delegates  to  the  con 
vention  among  the  several  towns,  according  to  popula- 


THOMAS    WILSON    DOUR.  41 

tion,  and  to  give  to  every  American  citizen  as  aforesaid 
the  right  of  voting  for  delegates,  and  for  the  constitu 
tion  which  may  be  proposed  for  the  ratification  of  the 
people. 

14.  Resolved,   That  the   friends  of   reform   in   each 
town  be  requested  forthwith  to  establish  an  association 
for  the  purpose  of  a  better  organization  for  correspond 
ence,  and   generally  for  the  promotion  of  the  objects  of 
this  convention. 

15.  Resolved,   That    a    state    committee    of   eleven 
persons  be  appointed  by  this  convention  to  correspond 
with  the  associations  of  the  several  towns,  and  to  carry 
forward  the  cause   of  reform  and   equal  rights,  and  to 
call  a  convention  of  delegates  to  draught  a  constitution 
at  as  early  a  day  as  possible. 

16.  Resolved,  That   the   state  committee  be  request 
ed  to  obtained,  without  delay,  a  list  of  all  the  citizens 
in  the  several  towns  who  are  ready  to  vote  for  and  sus 
tain  a  constitution  based  on  the  principles  hereinbefore 
declared,   and  to  present  the    same   at    the    adjourned 
meeting. 

17.  Resolved,  That  the  state  committee  be  request 
ed  to  prepare  and  send  forth  an  address  to  the   people 
of  this  state  on  the  subjects  contained  in  the  foregoing 
resolutions,  and  to  report  proceedings  at  an  adjourned 
meeting. 

18.  Resolved,  That   a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be 
transmitted  to  the  governor,  to  the  lieutenant  governor, 
and  to  each  member  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives,  whose  attention  is  especially  and  respectfully 
asked  to  the  resolution  relative  to  the  call  of  the  con 
vention  for  framing  a  constitution. 

19.  Resolved,  that  the  support  and  patronage  of  all 
the  friends  of  reform  are  urgently  requested  in  behalf 
of  the  "  New  Age,"  a  newspaper  exclusively  devoted  to 
the  cause  which  we  have  this  day  assembled  to  pro 
mote. 

4* 


42  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

20.  Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  signed  by 
the   president   and  secretaries  of  the  convention,   and 
published   in  the   several  newspapers  throughout  the 
state,  and  that  the  publishers  be  requested  to  give  them 
a  gratuitous  insertion  in  their  respective  papers. 

21.  Resolved,  That  this  convention,  when  it  adjourns, 
will  adjourn  to  meet  at  Providence,  on  the   5th  day  of 
July  next. 

When  the  General  Assembly  held  their  session  in 
June  following,  several  leading  members  of  the  suffrage 
party  .came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  the  legislature 
would  adopt  a  resolution  authorizing  non-freeholders  to 
vote  for  delegates  to  the  convention  which  was  to  meet 
in  November  following,  it  would  be  advisable  to  post 
pone  any  further  action  until  that  convention  should 
have  met.  Accordingly,  the  Hon.  Samuel  Y.  Atwell, 
then  a  member  of  the  House,  was  requested  to  use  his 
exertions  for  that  purpose  ;  and  in  compliance  with  that 
request,  the  records  of  that  session  show  that  Mr.  At- 
well,  then  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee,  did  re 
port  a  bill  which  provided  that  all  who  had  paid  a  town 
or  state  tax,  on  real  or  personal  estate,  within  one  year, 
should  be  allowed  to  vote  for  delegates  to  that  conven 
tion.  This  proposition,  after  a  spirited  debate,  was  re 
jected  by  a  vote  of  fifty-two  to  ten.  This  showed 
plainly  enough  that  non-freeholders  could  expect  no  re 
lief  from  the  General  Assembly. 

And,  on  the  5th  of  July  following,  a  large  mass 
meeting  was  held  by  adjournment  in  the  city  of  Provi 
dence,  by  which  the  following  resolutions  were 
adopted  :  — 

Resolved,  That  on  this,  the  anniversary  (5th  July, 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  43 

1841)  of  our  national  independence,  we  recur,  with 
emotions  of  deep  and  patriotic  gratitude,  to  the  princi 
ples,  the  measures,  and  the  men  of  the  American  rev 
olution. 

Resolved,  That  the  doctrines  of  liberty  and  equality, 
first  promulgated  in  modern  times  by  the  immortal 
founders  of  our  state,  and  re-asserted  by  the  illustrious 
author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  all  that  is  just  and  free  in  our  political 
institutions  ;  and  that  the  vindication  of  these  doctrines, 
when  impaired,  and  the  development  of  them  in  all 
their  force  and  effect,  are  duties  of  the  most  sacred  and 
imperative  obligation,  and  enjoined  upon  us  by  the  ven 
erable  fathers,  who,  being  dead,  yet  speak  to  us,  by  our 
character  as  republicans  and  as  men,  and  by  our  regard 
to  the  rights  and  interests  of  our  successors. 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  language  of  Jefferson,  te  It  is 
not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of  those  now  on  the 
stage  of  action,  to  change  the  laws  and  institutions  of 
government,  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  knowl 
edge,  the  lights  of  science,  and  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  society  ;  "  —  and  that  "  nothing  is  to  be 
considered  unchangeable  but  the  inherent  and  unalien- 
able  rights  of  man." 

Resolved,  That  the  political  institutions  of  this  state 
have  long  since  lost  their  character  of  liberty  and 
equality  which  belong  to  a  republic  ;  and  that,  inasmuch 
as,  in  the  words  of  Washington,  "  the  basis  of  our  polit 
ical  institutions  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  and 
to  alter  their  constitutions,"  it  has  now  become  the  duty 
of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  acting  upon  the  princi 
ples  which  have  been  recited,  and  animated^  by  the  ex 
ample  of  their  patriotic  ancestors,  to  apply  with  a  firm 
hand,  without  unnecessary  delay,  and  in  their  original 
and  sovereign  capacity,  the  necessary  corrective  to  ex 
isting  political  evils,  by  the  formation  and  adoption  of 
a  written  republican  state  constitution. 


44  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

Resolved,  "  That  we  unanimously  and  cordially  re 
affirm  the  views,  sentiments,  and  plans  "  set  forth  in 
their  resolutions  by  the  convention  of  the  friends  of 
equal  rights,  held  at  Newport  on  the  5th  day  of  May 
last ;  and  that,  inasmuch  as  the  General  Assembly  of 
this  state,  at  their  last  session,  in  June,  have  finally  de 
cided  that  the  freeholders  are  exclusively  the  people  of 
Khode  Island,  and  have  denied  to  the  great  majority  of 
the  people,  so  far  as  it  is  in  their  power  thus  to  deny, 
any  participation  in  the  convention  to  be  held  in  No 
vember  next,  the  time  has  now  fully  arrived  for  the 
people,  in  their  original  and  sovereign  capacity,  to  ex 
ercise  their  reserved  rights ;  and  that  we  hereby  ap 
prove  the  call  by  the  state  committee  of  the  people's 
convention,  on  the  basis  of  the  resolutions  aforesaid,  at 
an  early  day,  for  the  formation  of  a  constitution. 

Resolved,  That  when  the  constitution,  so  framed, 
shall  be  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  whole  people  of 
the  state,  by  their  signatures  or  otherwise,  as  the  con 
vention  may  provide,  we  will  sustain  and  carry  into 
effect  said  constitution,  by  all  necessary  means  ;  and 
that,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  we  will  remove  all  obstacles  to 
its  successful  establishment  and  operation  :  and  we 
hereunto  solemnly  pledge  ourselves  to  each  other  and 
the  public. 

Resolved,  That  we  hail  with  pleasure  the  presence 
among  us  of  the  venerable  remnants  of  our  revolution 
ary  worthies  ;  and  entertain  the  hope  that  they  may  be 
spared  to  witness  another  anniversary,  when  they  will 
be  deemed  not  only  worthy  of  shedding  their  blood  for 
the  defence  of  their  country,  but  of  voting  for  their 
rulers,  and  of  taking  an  equal  share  of  the  concerns  of 
government. 

Resolved,  That  we  enter  our  solemn  protest  against 
the  principles  upon  which  the  landholders'  convention 
is  called,  as  by  that  call  a  large  majority  of  the  people 
of  this  state  are  excluded  from  a  participation  in  the 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORK. 


45 


choice  of  delegates  to  frame  a  constitution,  by  the  pro 
visions  of  which  they  are  to  be  governed. 

Resolved,  That  we  deny  the  authority  of  the  legisla 
ture  to  proscribe  or  prevent  any  portion  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  who  are  permanent  residents  of  this  state,  from 
a  participation  in  the  organization  of  the  government, 
which  is  to  affect  the  rights  and  privileges  of  all. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  a  repub 
lican  government  for  a  minority  to  make  laws  that  shall 
bind  the  majority  ;  and  that  we  will  resist  to  the  ut 
most  of  our  ability  a  government  that  shall  not  ac 
knowledge  the  just  rights  of  the  whole  people. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  use  all  honorable  means  within 
our  power  to  have  every  American  citizen,  who  is  a  per 
manent  resident  in  this  state,  represented  in  the  conven 
tion  for  framing  a  constitution  that  shall  define  the 
powers  of  the  legislature,  and  secure  to  the  people  the 
free  exercise  of  their  rights  and  privileges. 

A  state  committee,  composed  of  the  following  gen 
tlemen,  was  elected  :  — 

f  Charles  Collins, 

Newport  County,  .  .    \  Dutee  J.  Pearce, 
L  Silas  Sisson. 


Providence  County,  . 


Bristol  County, 


f  Samuel  H.  Wales, 
Benjamin  Arnold,  Jr., 
Welcome  B.  Sayles, 
Henry  L.  Webster, 
James  B.  Stiness, 
Metcalf  Marsh. 

f  Benjamin  M.  Bosworth, 
\  Samuel  S.  Allen, 
{  Abijah  Luce. 


46  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

fEmanuel  Bice, 
Kent  County, 1  Silas  Weaver, 

^  John  B.  Sheldon. 

(  Sylvester  Himes, 
Washington  County,  .    <  Wager  Weeden, 

(Charles  Allen. 

This  committee  met  at  Providence,  on  the  20th  of 
July,  and  proceeded,  according  to  instructions,  to  issue 
a  call  for  the  election  of  delegates,  to  take  place  on  the 
28th  day  of  August  following,  to  attend  a  convention 
to  be  holden  at  the  state  house  in  Providence,  on  the 
first  Monday  of  October,  for  the  -purpose  of  framing 
such  a  democratic  constitution  as  is  guaranteed  to  every 
state  in  the  Union  by  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  laying  it  before  the  people  of  the  state  for 
their  adoption  or  rejection.  The-  following  votes  were 
also  passed  :  — 

Voted,  That  every  American  male  citizen,  of  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  and  upwards,  who  has  resided  in  this 
state  one  year  preceding  the  election  of  delegates,  shall 
vote  for  delegates  to  the  convention  called  by  the  state 
committee,  to  be  held  at  the  state  house  in  Providence, 
on  the  first  Monday  in  October  next. 

Voted,  That  every  meeting  holden  for  the  election 
of  delegates  to  the  state  convention  shall  be  organized 
by  the  election  of  a  chairman  and  secretary,  whose  cer 
tificate  shall  be  required  of  the  delegates. 

Voted,  That  each  town  of  one  thousand  inhabitants, 
or  less,  shall  be  entitled  to  one  delegate  ;  and  for  every 
additional  thousand,  one  delegate  shall  be  appointed  ; 
and  the  city  of  Providence  shall  elect  three  delegates 
from  each  ward  in  the  city. 

Voted,  That  the  chairman  and  secretary  be  directed 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORK.  47 

to  cause  one  thousand  handbills  to  be  printed  and 
distributed  through  the  state,  containing  the  call  for  a 
convention  of  delegates. 

Voted,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be 
signed  by  the  chairman  and  secretary,  and  be  published. 

On  motion,  voted,  That  this  meeting  stand  adjourned, 
to  meet  at  this  place  on  the  1st  day  of  September,  at 
11  o'clock,  A.  M. 

In  compliance  with  the  foregoing  recommendation, 
regularly-organized  town  meetings  were  held  in  all  the 
towns  in  the  state,  on  the  28th  of  August,  and  delegates 
were  chosen  to  meet  in  convention  at  the  time  specified 
to  form  a  constitution. 

The  delegates  so  elected  met  in  convention  at  the 
state  house,  in  the  city  of  Providence,  on  the  first  Mon 
day  of  October,  1841,  and  proceeded  to  form  a  consti 
tution,  which  they  caused  to  be  published  and  circulated 
in  every  part  of  the  state  for  examination.  The  con 
vention  then  adjourned  to  meet  again  at  the  same  place, 
on  the  16th  of  November.  The  convention  assembled 
according  to  adjournment,  and  after  making  some  slight 
amendments,  ordered  the  constitution,  as  finally  agreed 
upon,  to  be  again  published,  and  afterwards  to  be  sub 
mitted  to  the  people  for  their  adoption  or  rejection,  on 
the  27th,  28th,  and  29th  of  December  following.  The 
convention  then  adjourned  to  meet  again  on  the  12th  of 
January,  1842. 

Perhaps  no  abler  deliberative  assembly  than  that  which 
met  to  form  the  People's  Constitution  ever  convened  in 
the  State,  of  Rhode  Island.  The  members  received  no 
compensation  for  their  services  —  they  met  and  labored 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  forming  for  the  people  of  the 


48  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OP 

state  a  written  constitution,  adapted  to  their  condition 
and  wants. 

The  constitution  was  again  printed  and  freely  circu 
lated  throughout  the  state,  and  on  the  27th,  28th,  and 
29th  of  December  following,  regularly-organized,  open 
town  meetings  were  held  in  all  the  towns  of  the  state 
for  its  adoption  or  rejection.  Never,  before  or  since, 
was  so  large  a  vote  polled  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island 
in  favor  of  any  one  object.  Every  American  citizen 
over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  who  had  resided  in  the 
state  one  year  previous  to  the  time  of  voting,  was  al 
lowed  to  vote,  by  indorsing  his  name  on  the  back  of 
his  ballot.  Throughout  the  whole  state,  these  meetings 
were  conducted  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  manner.  Every 
person  who  voted  certified  upon  his  ballot  whether  he  was 
or  was  not  qualified  by  statute  to  vote.  Free  from  all 
the  side  issues,  which  often  bias  men  in  party  contests, 
every  voter  was  now  at  liberty  to  declare  the  honest 
sentiments  of  his  heart. 

The  secretaries  of  all  the  town  meetings  held  as 
aforesaid,  preserved  and  forwarded  to  the  constitutional 
convention  all  the  ballots  which  were  received  in  open 
town  meeting  ;  and  on  the  12th  day  of  January,  1842, 
the  convention  reassembled  and  proceeded  to  count  the 
ballots  so  returned,  when  it  was  found  that  13,944  votes 
had  been  given  for  the  constitution,  and  52  only  against 
it.  Of  the  whole  number  who  voted,  4960  were  free 
holders,  who  were  qualified  by  statute  to  vote.  It 
therefore  appeared  that  a  decided  majority,  not  only  of 
all  the  male  citizens  of  the  state  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  but  also  a  majority  of  all  the  qualified  voters, 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  49 

had  given  their  votes  for  the  constitution.  From  the 
census  of  the  United  States  for  1840,  it  appears,  as 
near  as  can  be  ascertained,  that  the  whole  number  of 
males  in  the  state  at  that  time  over  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  was  about  25,000.  Now,  if  we  deduct  from 
that  number  all  who  were  under  guardians,  the  insane, 
and  the  idiots,  and  also  those  who  had  not  resided  in 
the  state  one  year  previous  to  the  time  of  voting,  the 
whole  number  of  those  who  were  competent  to  vote 
would  not  probably  exceed  20,000 ;  and  of  that  num- 
.  her  nearly  14,000  voted  for  the  constitution.  Again, 
we  find  that  about  5000  of  that  14,000  were  qualified 
to  vote,  by  statute;  and  by  examining  the  annexed 
schedule,  furnished  by  the  secretary  of  state,  we  shall 
be  satisfied  that  a  good  majority  of  all  the  qualified 

freemen  voted  for  the  constitution. 

/ 

State  of  Votes  for  General  Officers  in  the  Elections, 
from  1832  to  1841,  inclusive. 

STATE  or  RHODE  ISLAND  AND  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS,  ) 
Secretary's  Office,  January  6,  1844.  5 

I,  Henry  Bo  wen,  secretary  of  said  state,  and  keeper 
r        -,    of  the  records  and  the  seals  thereof,  do  certify, 
'-"    that  the  whole  number  of  votes  for  general  offi 
cers,  as  reported  by  the  counting  committee  appointed 
by  the  General  Assembly  at  the   May  session,  for  the 
years  after  named,  was  as  follows,  viz.  :  — 

For  the  year  1832,  five  thousand  six  hundred  and 
fifteen. 

For  the  year  1833,  seven  thousand  three  hundred 
and  one. 

For  the  year  1834,  seven  thousand  two  hundred  and 
thirty-four. 

5 


50  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

For  the  year  1835,  seven  thousand  six  hundred  and 
seventy-four. 

For  the  year  1836,  seven  thousand  one  hundred  and 
sixty-eight. 

For  the  year  1837,  four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventeen. 

For  the  year  1838,  seven  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  forty-six. 

For  the  year  1839,  six  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-three. 

For  the  year  1840,  eight  thousand  two  hundred  and 
ninety-two. 

For  the  year  1841,  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
thirteen. 

All  which  appears  of  record. 

This  vote  gave  the  fullest  assurance  that  a  very  large 
majority  of  all  the  people  of  the  state  were  in  favor  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  convention  therefore  proceeded 
to  declare  it  adopted,  and  issued  and  caused  to  be  pub 
lished  the  following  proclamation  :  — 

STATE   OF  RHODE  ISLAND    AND    PROVIDENCE  PLAN- 
TATIONS.    ' 

A   PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas  the  convention  of  the  people  of  this  state, 
at  their  last  session,  in  the  city  of  Providence,  on  the 
13th  day  of  January,  A.  D.  184£,  passed  the  following 
resolutions,  to  wit  ;  — 

"  Whereas,  by  the  return  of  the  votes  upon  the  con 
stitution  proposed  to  the  citizens  of  this  state  by  this 
convention,  on  the  18th  of  November  last,  it  satis 
factorily  appears  that  the  citizens  of  this  state,  in  their 
original  and  sovereign  capacity,  have  ratified  and  adopt 
ed  said  constitution  by  a  large  majority ;  and  the  will 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  51 

of  the  people  thus  decisively  made  known,  ought  to  be 
implicitly  obeyed  and  faithfully  executed  :  — 

"  We  do,  therefore,  resolve  and  declare,  that  said  con 
stitution  rightfully  ought  to  be,  and  is,  the  paramount 
law  and  constitution  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations. 

"  And  we  do  further  resolve  and  declare,  for  our 
selves,  and  in  behalf  of  the  people  whom  we  represent, 
that  we  will  establish  said  constitution,  and  sustain  and 
defend  the  same  by  all  necessary  means. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  officers  of  this  convention  make 
proclamation  of  the  return  of  the  votes  upon  the  con 
stitution,  and  that  the  same  has  been  adopted  and  has 
become  the  constitution  of  this  state,  and  that  they 
cause  said  proclamation  to  be  published  in  the  newspa 
pers  of  the  same." 

Now,  therefore,  in  obedience  to  the  above  vote  of 
said  convention,  we,  the  undersigned,  officers  of  the 
same,  do  hereby  proclaim  and  make  known  to  all  the 
people  of  this  state,  that  said  constitution  has  been 
adopted  by  a  large  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  citizens 
of  this  state  :  and  that  said  constitution  of  right  ought 
to  be,  and  is,  the  paramount  law  and  constitution  of 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations. 

And  we  hereby  call  upon  the  citizens  of  the  state  to 
give  their  aid  and  support  in  carrying  said  constitution  . 
into  full  operation  and  effect,  according  to  the  terms  and 
provisions  thereof. 

Witness  our  hands,  at  Providence,  in  said  state,  this 
13th  day  of  January,  A.  D.  1842. 

JOSEPH   JOSLIN, 
President  of  the  Convention. 
WAGER   WEEDEN,      j  ^     PreMents. 
SAMUEL   H.    WALES, 


WM.  H.  SMITH,        « 

T          a    TJ  f  Secretaries. 

JOHN  S.  HARRIS,  ) 


52  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

The  constitution  provided  that  the  new  government 
should  commence  and  be  organized  at  the  expiration  of 
the  then  existing  political  year.  Article  XIV.  con 
tained  the  following  provisions  :  — 

The  present  government  shall  exercise"  all  the  power*. 
with  which  it  is  now  clothed,  until  the  said  first  Tues 
day   of    May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
two,  and  until  their  successors,  under  this  constitution, 
shall  be  duly  elected  and  qualified. 

All  civil,  judicial,  and  military  officers  now  elect 
ed,  or  who  shall  hereafter  be  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly,  or  other  competent  authority,  before  the 
said  first  Tuesday  of  May,  shall  hold  their  offices,  and 
may  exercise  their  powers,  until  that  time. 

All  laws  and  statutes,  public  and  private,  now  in 
force,  and  not  repugnant  to  this  constitution,  shall  con 
tinue  in  force  until  they  expire  by  their  own  limita 
tion,  or  are  repealed  by  the  General  Assembly.  All 
contracts,  judgments,  actions,  and  rights  of  action,  shall 
be  as  valid  as  if  this  constitution  had  not  been  made. 
All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into, 
before  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  as  valid 
against  the  state  as  if  this  constitution  had  not  been 
made. 

The  convention,  before  they  adjourned,  directed  the 
committee  which  counted  the  votes  to  present  to  his 
excellency  the  governor  a  certified  copy  of  the  same, 
and  also  an  attested  copy  of  the  constitution  which  the 
people  had  adopted,  with  a  request  that  he  should 
communicate  the  same  to  the  two  Houses  of  the  General 
Assembly  then  in  session. 

That  communication  was  made  accordingly,-  signed 
by  the  following  committee  :  — 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORK.  53 

"William  James,  Chairm.      Willard  Hazard, 
John  R.  Waterman,  Welcome  Ballou  Sayles, 

Dutee  J.  Pearce,  Sylv.  Himes, 

David  Daniels,  Israel  Wilson, 

Oliver  Chace,  Jr.,  Jonathan  Remington, 

Robert  R.  Carr,  Christ.  Smith, 

Ariel  Ballon,  Elisha  G.  Smith, 

Thomas  W.  Dorr,  Samuel  Luther, 

Samuel  T.  Hopkins,  Erasmus  D.  Campbell, 

Alfred  Reed,  Nathan  Bardin, 

Wm.  C.  Barker,  Joshua  B.  Rathbun, 

Abner  Haskell,  Nathan  A.  Brown. 

Alexander  Allen, 

Wm.  H.  Smith,)  &creto.-es 

John  S.  Harris,  } 
PROVIDENCE,  January  13,  1842. 

Every  step  that  had  been  taken  had  been  done  open 
ly  and  boldly,  with  all  due  respect  to  the  existing  gov 
ernment.  No  attempts  were  made  to  disturb  or  im- 
validate  any  acts  of  the  existing  legislature,  or  other 
laws  of  the  state,  unless  they  should  be  found  incon 
sistent  with  the  constitution.  The  new  government  was 
not  intended  to  overthrow,  but  to  succeed  the  old.  No 
state  constitution  was  ever  formed  and  adopted  in  a 
more  quiet  and  orderly  manner,  or  met  a  more  hearty 
approval  from  the  people.  But  it  soon  became  evident 
that  those  who  held  the  government  would  not  willingly 
surrender  their  authority.  The  constitution  and  its 
framers  and  advocates  were  treated  with  a  haughty 
contempt,  and  all  available  means  were  made  use  of  to 
deter  the  people  from  supporting  it. 
5* 


54  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTEK    IV. 

LANDHOLDERS'  CONSTITUTION  FORMED  AND  REJECTED, 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  THE 
RIGHT  OF  THE  PEOPLE  TO  FORM  CONSTITUTIONS 
CONSIDERED,  AND  AUTHORITIES  QUOTED. 

IN  the  mean  time  the  landholders'  convention,  which 
was  composed  of  delegates  chosen  only  by  freemen, 
met  and  formed  their  constitution,  which  was  ordered  to 
be  submitted  to  such  only  as  were  ascertained  to  be  en 
titled  to  vote  under  its  provisions.  The  2 1st,  ££d,  and 
23d  days  of  March,  184&,  were  fixed  upon  for  its 
adoption,  and  the  General  Assembly,  at  their  January 
session,  ordered  five  thousand  copies  of  that  constitu 
tion  to  be  printed,  and  with  twenty -five  thousand  bal 
lots,  to  be  distributed  throughout  the  state,  and  the 
most  strenuous  efforts  were  made  by  the  charter  gov 
ernment  to  induce  the  people  to  go  forward  and  adopt 
it.  At  length  the  time  for  voting  arrived,  the  polls 
were  kept  open  three  days,  and  when  the  votes  came  to 
be  returned  and  counted,  it  was  found  that  this  consti 
tution  had  been  rejected  by  a  majority  of  six  hundred 
and  seventy-five  votes.  The  result  of  this  contest  may 
justly  be  considered  as  a  second  demonstration  in  favor 
of  the  people's  constitution. 

As   we   have    said    before,   the    convention   which 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  55 

counted  the  votes  given  for  the  people's  constitution 
communicated  their  doings  to  the  legislature  then  in 
session  in  Providence,  and  thereupon  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Y.  Atwell,  then  a  member  of  the  House,  and  one  of 
the  most  able  and  high-minded  statesmen  that  Rhode 
Island  has  ever  had,  introduced  a  bill  which  provided 
for  the  surrendering  of  the  charter  government  at  the 
expiration  of  that  political  year  to  the  government  that 
was  to  be  organized  at  that  time  under  the  constitution 
which  had  been  adopted.  An  opportunity  was  now  of 
fered  the  charter  authorities  honorably  and  quietly  to  sur 
render  the  government  to  the  rightful  authorities.  Such 
had  been  the  case  at  every  change  that  had  before  taken 
place  in  the  government  of  that  state.  When  the  first 
charter  was  received,  each  of  the  colonial  governments 
readily  and  cheerfully  surrendered  to  the  government 
under  the  charter  ;  and  again,  when  the  government 
under  the  first  charter  was  superseded  by  the  charter 
from  Charles  II.,  the  old  government  surrendered  its 
authority  to  the  new  one  the  very  next  day  after  the 
charter  was  received.  Therefore,  in  compliance  with 
former  usage,  and  by  every  principle  of  law  and  reason, 

—  by  every  principle  of  honor,  justice,  and  humanity, 

—  every  member  of  that  legislature  was  bound  to  sup- 
iport  the  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Atwell. 

But  that  proposition  was  .unceremoniously  rejected; 
and  when  doubts  were  expressed  about  the  majority  of 
votes  given  for  the  people's  constitution,  Mr.  Atwell 
proposed  to  the  legislature  to  go  into  an  examination  of 
those  votes,  which  had  been  carefully  preserved  by  the 
convention,  and  were  tendered  to  the  General  Assembly 


50  THE   LIFE   AN»  TIMES  OF 

for  that  purpose.  That  proposition  was  treated  with 
scorn,  and  promptly  rejected.  The  legislature  held  that 
it  was  of  no  consequence  whether  a  majority  had  or  had 
not  voted  for  the  constitution.  We  may  well  presume 
that  every  member  of  the  legislature  was  perfectly 
satisfied  that  votes  enough  had  been  given  for  it,  and 
that  nothing  could  be  gained  by  an  investigation.  At 
the  same  time  the  Assembly  saw  that  if  they  should 
take  that  issue,  and  find  the  votes  correctly  returned 
and  counted,  that  body  would  be  expected  to  yield  up 
its  authority. 

The  refusal  to  examine  the  votes  was  an  implied 
acknowledgment  of  their  correctness,  and  therefore  the 
legislature  were  driven  to  the  necessity  of  resting  their 
case  upon  another  horn  of  the  dilemma.  The  whole 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  people  in  the  formation  and 
adoption  of  their  constitution  were  declared  void  ab 
initio  for  want  of  legislative  authority,  and  this  is  the 
point  upon  which  the  whole  case,  with  all  its  conse 
quences,  rests ;  it  therefore  deserves  to  be  duly  con 
sidered.  Had  the  legislature  any  authority  to  require 
or  authorize  the  people  to  form  and  adopt  a  constitu 
tion  ?  The  charter  gave  them  no  such  authority,  nor 
had  the  people  at  any  time  or  in  any  manner  conferred 
such  power:  upon  the  General  Assembly  ;  therefore,  if 
the  legislature  had  pretended  to  have  or  exercise  any 
such  authority,  it  would  have  been  usurpation,  and  in 
itself  illegal.  Those  who  knew  any  thing  about  it, 
knew  very  well  that  the  Assembly  had  no  power  to 
pass  any  act  that  should  be  of  binding  force,  or  confer 
upon  the  people  any  legal  power  to  take  measures  for 


THOMAS  WILSON   DOER.  57 

forming  a  constitution.  It  will  be  seen  by  an  examina 
tion  of  the  doings  of  the  legislature  at  the  January 
session,  1841,  that  the  act  of  that  session  relative  to 
the  calling  of  a  convention  was  merely  advisory ;  it  did 
not  order  or  direct,  but  requested  the  "  freemen  "  to  meet 
and  choose  delegates  to  form  a  constitution.  The 
words  "  Be  it  enacted"  in  themselves,  are  of  no  au 
thority,  therefore  all  that  was  done  by  that  act  was  sim 
ply  to  recommend  to  the  "  freemen  "  to  take  the  course 
pointed  out ;  nobody  was  bound  by  it,  and  a  refusal  to 
comply  would  have  been  no  breach  of  law.  Nor  had 
the  eighty-four  individuals  who  composed  that  Assem 
bly  any  more  right  to  request  the  "  freemen  "  so  to 
proceed,  than  the  same  number  of  respectable  individ 
uals  in  private  life ;  therefore  the  town  meetings  that 
were  held  pursuant  to  that  request,  were  just  as  illegal 
as  the  meetings  which  were  held  for  a  similar  purpose 
in  compliance  with  the  request  of  a  mass  convention ; 
and,  therefore,  if  the  landholders'  constitution  had  been 
adopted,  it  would  have  had  no  more  authority  than  that 
which  the  people  did  adopt.  Nor  does  the  validity  of 
a  constitution  depend  at  all  upon  any  initiatory  meas 
ures  ;  it  is  the  adoption  alone  which  gives  it  authority. 
But  there  is  another  feature  in  the  case.  The  call  of 
the  Assembly  was  directed  to  the  freemen  only,  and 
these,  as  we  have,  seen,  constituted  only  about  one 
third  of  the  people,  so  that  the  invitation  was  not  ex 
tended  to  all  the  people,  or  a  majority,  but  to  a  known 
minority  ;  so  that  a  majority  of  the  people  could  not, 
if  they  chose,  comply  with  the  request.  They  were, 
therefore,  left  free  to  take  their  own  course,  without 


58  THE   LIFE   ANG   TIMES   OF 

tiny  legislative  instruction.  But  we  are  told  that  the 
people  are  not  the  people  in  a  legal  sense  ;  that  men 
have  no  natural  inherent  rights,  but  that  political  rights 
are  gifts  from  the  government,  and  bestowed  upon  such 
only  as  the  government  sees  fit  to  point  out  as  objects 
of  favor. 

This  is  anti-republican  doctrine,  and  directly  oppo 
site  to  the  declared  principles  upon  which  all  the  Amer 
ican  governments  are  founded.  If  this  doctrine  is  true, 
the  Declaration  of  American  Independence  is  a  lie,  and 
the  patriots  of  the  revolution  shed  their  blood  for  noth 
ing.  Some  appear  to  be  unable  to  understand  that  men 
have  certain  natural  rights  which  are  before,  and  inde 
pendent  of,  all  social  compacts.  They  cannot  under 
stand  that  the  consent  of  the  governed  is  the  only  true 
source  of  political  power  ;  yet  no  philosophical  problem 
is  capable  of  clearer  demonstration.  All  who  are  the 
subjects  of  a  government  possess  an  indefeasible  right 
to  give  or  withhold  their  consent.  A  consideration  of 
the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number  has  led  to  the 
adoption  of  the  rule  that  the  will  of  the  majority  should 
be  considered  the  will  of  the  whole,  and  be  obeyed 
accordingly  ;  and  so  long,  therefore,  as  any  government 
enjoys  that  consent,  it  may  justly  exercise  its  authority  ; 
but  whenever  that  consent  is  decidedly  withheld,  the 
government  becomes  arbitrary  and  unjust.  Tyrants 
may  cavil  at  this,  and  interested  men  find  many  objec 
tions  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  the  true  doctrine  of  Ameri 
can  democracy.  In  its  commencement,  every  free  gov 
ernment  has  been  established  by  mutual  agreement. 
The  compact  formed  on  board  the  Mayflower  is  a  good 


THOMAS  WILSON   DOUR.  59 

example,  and  the  colonies  established  by  Roger  "Wil 
liams  at  Providence,  and  by  John  Clarke  at  Newport, 
were  of  the  same  character.  Such  were  also  many 
other  infant  settlements  in  this  country.  The  records 
of  the  colony  of  Roger  Williams  for  many  years  show 
that  the  declaratory  clause  in  their  legislative  proceed 
ings  was,  ts  It  is  agreed,"  instead  of  "  Be  it  enacted," 
as  now  used.  Although  those  who  held  the  govern 
ment  of  Rhode  Island  under  the  charter,  in  1841-2, 
resorted  to  the  sacrilegious  measure  of  denying  the 
truths  set  forth  in  the  Declaration  of  American  Inde 
pendence,  yet  the  whole  frame  of  government  in  the 
United  States,  and  every  single  state,  rests  upon  that 
declaration  of  rights  as  upon  a  corner  stone  which  can 
never  be  overthrown,  except  with  the  freedom  of  the 
government.  In  our  statute  books,  it  takes  precedence 
of  every  other  document ;  its  principles  are  incorpo 
rated  into  every  state  constitution  ;  and  at  every  return- 
,ing  anniversary  in  every  town,  city,  and  hamlet  through 
out  the  United  States,  it  is  publicly  read  and  renewedly 
and  solemnly  acknowledged  as  the  basis  of  our  political 
faith.  At  such  a  time,  to  deny  or  doubt  its  truth  would 
be  regarded  as  political  infidelity,  and  bring  upon  every 
such  individual  the  hatred  and  scorn  of  every  true 
American.  It  is  idle  to  say  that  that  instrument  was  a 
revolutionary  document,  and  that  we  have  no  further 
use  for  it,  or  that  it  was  made  up  of  rhetorical  flourishes 
and  unmeaning  declamations.  Its  principles,  which  were 
true  then,  are  true  now,  and  will  continue  to  be  so  to 
the  end  of  time.  Tyrants  may  storm  and  rave  against 
them  —  despotism  may  crush  them  out  or  bury  them  in 


(50  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

obscurity  —  ignorance  or  irresolution  may  allow  them 
to  be  forgotten  or  trampled  upon  5  but  the  truths  them 
selves,  as  irrefragable  as  the  doctrine  of  the  solar  sys 
tem,  will  remain  forever.  If  any  one  state  more  than 
another  cherished  these  principles,  it  was  Rhode  Island. 
They  governed  her  earliest  institutions,  and  are  recog 
nized  in  all  her  subsequent  history,  and  were  publicly 
proclaimed  by  a  solemn  enactment  of  her  General  As 
sembly  in  1776.  So  jealous  was  that  state  of  those 
rights,  and  so  anxious  to  guard  them  against  any  inno 
vation,  that  her  delegates  in  Congress  would  not  ratify 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States  until  they  had 
filed  with  it  the  following  declaration  :  — 

We,  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  duly  elected 
and  met  in  convention,  having  maturely  considered  the 
constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America,  agreed  to 
on  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  by  the  con 
vention  then  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  (a  copy  whereof  precedes 
these  presents,)  and  having,  also  seriously  and  deliber 
ately  considered  the  present  situation  of  this  state,  do 
declare  and  make  known,  — 

I.  That  there  are  certain  natural  rights,  of  which 
men,  when  they  form  a  social  compact,  cannot   deprive 
or  divest  their  posterity  ;  among  which  are  the  enjoy 
ment  of  life  and  liberty,  with  the  means  of  acquiring, 
possessing,  and  protecting  property,  and  pursuing  and 
obtaining  happiness  and  safety. 

II.  That  all  power  is  naturally  vested  in,  and  conse 
quently  derived   from,    the   people  ;    that  magistrates, 
therefore,  are  their  trustees  and  agents,  and  at  all  times 
amenable  to  them. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  61 

III.  That  the  powers  of  government  may  be  reas- 
sumed  by  the  people  whensoever  it  shall  become  neces 
sary  to  their  happiness. 

The  suffrage  party  did  not  ignorantly  and  rashly 
adopt  the  course  which  they  pursued  in  order  to  estab 
lish  a  written  constitution.  The  subject  was  thorough 
ly  examined  and  considered  by  all  its  leading  members, 
and  the  decisive  step  was  not  taken  until  all  other 
means  had  failed.  They  saw  the  course  which  they 
had  marked  out  justified  by  the  history  of  their  own 
government ;  they  saw  the  principles  which  they  had 
adopted  publicly  incorporated  into  the  constitutions  of 
more  than  twenty  of  their  sister  states  ;  they  consult 
ed  able  jurists  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States  ; 
they  also  found  themselves  justified  by  the  written 
declarations  of  the  ablest  statesmen  and  highest  judges. 
Mr.  Jefferson  said,  "  It  is  not  only  the  right,  but  the 
duty,  of  those  now  on  the  stage  of  action  to  change  the 
laws  and  the  institutions  of  government,  to  keep  pace 
with  the  progress  of  knowledge,  the  light  of  science, 
and  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  society. 
Nothing  is  to  be  considered  unchangeable  but  the  in 
herent  inalienable  rights  of  man."  Justice  Iredell,  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  declared  that 
"  the  people  may  remodel  their  government  whenever 
they  think  proper,  without  the  consent  of  the  govern 
ment  itself,  not  merely  because  it  is-  oppressively  exer 
cised,  but  because  they  think  another  form  is  more  con 
ducive  to  their  welfare." 

Justice  Wilson,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  a  member  of  the  convention  that 
6 


(52  THE   LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

framed  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  after 
wards  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  says, 
«  Of  the  right  of  a  majority  of  the  whole  people  to 
change  their  government  at  wiU  there  is  no  doubt." 
Again  he  says,  "  The  people  may  change  their  consti 
tution  whenever  and  however  they  phase." 

The  late  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton  said  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  "The  people  of  any  state  may 
at  any  time  meet  in  convention  without  a  law  of  their 
legislature,  and  without  any  provision,  or  against  any 
provision,  in  their  constitution,  and  may  alter  or  abolish 
the  whole  frame  of  government  as  they  please." 

The  convention  which  formed  the  present  constitution 
of  the  State  of  Virginia,  by  a  vote   of   sixty-eight  to 
twenty-five,    decided    that     no    clause    providing   for 
amendments  should  be  inserted  in   their   constitution, 
because  it  was  held  "  that  a  majority  of  the  people  had 
the  power  at  any  time  and  in  any  manner  they  pleased 
to  amend  that  constitution,  or  make  a  new  one."     By 
that  act  sixty-eight  men,   nearly  three  fourths  of  the 
whole  number  of  the  members  of  that   convention,  sol 
emnly  declared  that  the  people  themselves  could  not  be 
bound  by  any  constitutional   provisions,  but   might   at 
any  time,  and  without  any  law,  amend  that  constitution, 
or  make  a  new  one.     Among  those  who  voted  with  the 
majority  were  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Ex-President 
Madison,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  name  of  John 
Tyler,   who  was   afterwards  president    of    the  United 
States,  appears  in  the  same  catalogue  ;  and  if  he   had 
not  forgotten  his  own   solemn  act   in  that  instance,  he 
would  never  have  been  induced  to  lend  the  military 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  63 

forces  of  the  United  States  to  overthrow  a  constitution 
which  a  large  majority  of  the  whole  people  of  a  sover 
eign  state  had  adopted. 

A  long  catalogue  of  illustrious  names  of  the  highest 
authority  might  be  produced  to  show  that  Mr.  Dorr 
and  the  suffrage  party  had  an  undoubted  right  to  take 
the  course  which  they  did  in  forming  and  'adopting  a 
constitution,  and  in  setting  up  a  government  under  it. 

This  step  was  not  taken  unadvisedly;  it  was  no 
quixotic  enterprise,  or  sudden  ebullition  of  passion,  nor 
was  it  occasioned  by  slight  causes  which  had  just  trans 
pired,  but  was  a  course  to  which  the  people  were  driven 
by  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  insults,  "  all  tending  to 
the  same  end."  The  great  body  of  those  who  voted 
for  the  people's  constitution,  honestly  relying  upon  the 
justice  of  their  cause,  anticipated  little  or  no  opposition 
to  its  final  accomplishment;  they  supposed  that  they 
were  doing  what  they  had  an  undoubted  right  to  do, 
and  they  expected  to  receive  the  approbation  of  all  in 
telligent  men ;  they  could  not  believe  that  a  constitu 
tion,  so  just  in  its  provisions,  so  well  adapted  to  the 
condition  and  wants  of  the  people,  and  so  urgently 
demanded  by  so  decided  a  majority,  would  be  resisted 
with  the  bayonet.  But  the  result  snowed  that  they 
counted  too  much  upon  the  honor  and  magnanimity  of 
their  opponents,  and  far  too  much  upon  their  own  firm 
ness  and  fidelity. 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  ALGERINE  ACT.  APPLICATION  TO  THE  PRESIDENT 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  FOR  TROOPS.  CORRESPOND 
ENCE  BETWEEN  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  GOVERNOR 
KING,  AND  OTHERS.  MR.  DORR'S  ELECTION.  HIS 
MESSAGE,  ETC. 

As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  the  landholders' 
constitution  had  been  rejected,  an  extra  session  of  the 
General  Assembly  was  called,  and  convened  in  Provi 
dence,  on  the  28th  of  March,  at  which  time  the  follow 
ing  act  was  passed  :  — 

An  Act  in  relation  to  Offences  against  the  Sovereign 
Power  of  this  State. 

Whereas  in  a  free  government  it  is  especially  neces 
sary  that  the  duties  of  the  citizen  to  the  constituted  au 
thorities  should  be  plainly  defined,  so  that  none  may 
confound  our  regulated  American  liberty  with  unbridled 
license ;  and  whereas  certain  artful  and  ill-disposed 
persons  have,  for  some  time  past,  been  busy  with 
false  pretences  amongst  the  good  people  of  this  state, 
and  have  formed,  and  are  now  endeavoring  to  carry 
through,  a  plan  for  the  subversion  of  our  government 
under  assumed  forms  of  law,  but  in  plain  violation  of 
the  first  principles  of  constitutional  right,  and  many 
have  been  deceived  thereby  ;  and  whereas  this  General 
Assembly,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  desirous  to  awaken 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  65 

the  honest  and  well  meaning  to  a  sense  of  their  duty, 
is  resolved  by  all  necessary  means  to  guard  the  safety 
and  honor  of  the  state,  and,  overlooking  what  is  past, 
to  punish  such  evil  doers,  in  future,  in  a  manner  due  to 
their  offences  : 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows  :  — 

SECTION  1.  All  town,  ward,  or  other  meetings  of 
the  freemen,  inhabitants  or  residents  of  this  state,  or 
of  any  portion  of  the  same,  for  the  election  of  any 
town,  county,  or  state  officer  or  officers,  called  or  held 
in  any  town  of  this  state,  or  in  the  city  of  Providence, 
except  in  the  manner,  for  the  purposes,  at  the  times, 
and  by  the  freemen  by  law  prescribed,  are  illegal  and 
void ;  and  that  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  act 
as  moderator  or  moderators,  warden  or  wardens,  clerk 
or  clerks,  in  such  pretended  town,  ward,  or  other  meet 
ings  hereafter  to  be  held,  or  in  any  name  or  manner, 
receive,  record,  or  certify  votes  for  the  election  of 
any  pretended  town,  county,  or  state  officers,  shall  be 
deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  be  punished  by 
indictment  with  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  thousand  nor 
less  than  five  hundred  dollars,  and  be  imprisoned  for 
the  term  of  six  months  :  Provided,  however,  that  this 
act  is  not  intended  to  apply  to  cases  in  which,  by  acci 
dent  or  mistake,  some  prescribed  form  or  forms  of  call 
ing  town  or  ward  meetings  of  the  freemen  of  the  sev 
eral  towns  of  this  state,  and  of  the  city  of  Providence, 
shall  be  omitted  or  overlooked. 

SEC.  2.  Any  person  or  persons  who  shall  in  any 
manner  signify  that  he  or  they  will  accept  any  execu 
tive,  legislative,  judicial,  or  ministerial  office  or  offices, 
by  virtue  of  any  such  pretended  election  in  any  such 
pretended  town,  ward,  or  other  meeting  or  meetings,  or 
shall  knowingly  suffer  or  permit  his  or  their  name  or 
names  to  be  used  as  a  candidate  or  candidates  therefor, 
shall  be  adjudged  guilty  of  a  high  crime  and  misde- 
6* 


66  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 

meaner,  and  be  punished  by  indictment  in  a  fine  of  two 
thousand  dollars,  and  be  imprisoned  for  the  term  of  one 
year. 

SEC.  3.  If  any  person  or  persons,  except  such  as  are 
duly  elected  thereto,  according  to  the  laws  of  this  state, 
shall  under  any  pretended  constitution  of  government 
for  this  state,  or  otherwise,  assume  to  exercise  any  of 
the  legislative,  executive,  or  ministerial  functions  of 
the  offices  of  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  senators, 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  secretary  of 
state,  attorney  general,  or  general  treasurer  of  this 
state,  or  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  same,  as 
the  same  are  now  actually  held  and  enjoyed,  either  sep 
arately  or  collectively,  or  shall  assemble  for  the  purpose 
of  exercising  any  of  said  functions,  all  and  every  such 
exercise  of  or  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  exercising  all, 
any,  or  either  of  said  functions,  shall  be  deemed  and 
taken  to  be  a  usurpation  of  the  sovereign  power  of  this 
state,  and  is  hereby  declared  to  be  treason  against  the 
state,  and  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  during 
life,  as  is  now  by  law  prescribed. 

SEC.  4.  All  offences  under  this  act  shall  be  triable 
before  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  only.  Any  person 
or  persons  arrested  under  the  same,  and  also  for  treason 
against  the  state,  may  be  imprisoned  or  held  in  custody 
for  trial  in  the  jail  of  such  county  of  the  state  as  thje 
judge  or  justice  issuing  the  warrant  may  order  or  di 
rect  ;  and  the  sheriff  or  other  officer  charged  with  the 
service  of  such  warrant,  shall,  without  regard  to  his 
precinct,  have  full  power  and  authority  to  take  such 
person  or  persons  and  him  or  them  to  commit  to  any 
county  jail  in  this  state,  which  may  be  designated  by 
such  judge  or  justice  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all 
sheriffs,  deputy  sheriffs,  town  sergeants,  constables,  and 
jailers,  to  govern  themselves  accordingly.  All  indict 
ments  under  this  act,  and  also  all  indictments  for  trea 
son  against  this  state,  may  be  preferred  and  found  in 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  67 

any  county  of  this  state,  without  regard  to  the  county 
in  which  the  offence  was  committed  ;  and  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  shall  have  full  power,  for  good  cause, 
from  time  to  time,  to  remove  for  trial  any  indictment 
which  may  be  found  under  this  act,  or  for  treason 
against  the  state,  to  such  county  of  the  state  as  they 
shall  deem  best  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  a  fair  trial 
of  the  same,  and  shall,  upon  the  conviction  of  any  such 
offender  or  offenders,  have  full  power  to  order,  and  from 
time  to  time  to  alter  the  place  of  imprisonment  of  such 
offender  or  offenders  to  such  county  jail  within  this  state, 
or  to  the  state  prison,  as  to  them  shall  seem  best  for  the 
safe  custody  of  such  offender  or  offenders,  any  act,  law, 
or  usage  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

"While  this  act,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Furies,  outrages 
all  moral  considerations,  it  is  believed  also  to  be  con 
trary  to  the  common  law  of  all  civilized  nations,  and  in 
direct  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
This  act  was  immediately  published  and  circulated 
throughout  the  state,  its  framers  hoping  that  it  would  so 
terrify  the  people  as  to  prevent  them  from  proceeding 
to  elect  a  legislature  under  their  constitution. 

Now,  why  was  the  charter  government  so  extremely 
anxious  to  defeat  that  constitution  ?  Did  they  not 
know  that  the  people  had  publicly  and  positively  de 
clared  it  to  be  their  will  that  a  government  should  be 
organized,  and  go  into  operation  according  to  its  pro 
visions  ?  And  was  it  not  the  solemn  duty  of  every 
good  citizen  of  Rhode  Island,  whether  in  or  out  of 
office,  quietly  and  cheerfully  to  yield  obedience  to  that 
known  will  ?  Or  was  there  any  thing  in  the  constitu 
tion  itself  to  which  any  serious  objections  were  made  ? 
Certainly  not ;  because  the  charter  party,  in  urging  the 


68  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

people  to  vote  for  the  landholders'  constitution,  had  de 
clared  that  the  latter  was  "just  about  the  same  thing  as 
that  adopted  by  the  people,  and  that  all  the  essential 
difference  was,  that  one  was  legal,  while  the  other  was 
not."  All  at  once  the  charter  government  became  very 
sensitive  about  nice  technical  points  of  law ;  they 
would  have  nothing  done  illegally,  and,  therefore,  they 
set  at  nought  the  will  of  the  people,  and  set  up  their 
own  as  the  supreme  law ;  yet,  as  has  already  been 
shown,  the  General  Assembly,  under  the  charter,  could 
not,  by  any  act  of  binding  force,  prescribe  the  mode  by 
which  the  people  must  proceed  in  order  to  form  a  writ 
ten  constitution,  and,  therefore,  any  democratic  consti 
tution  regularly  formed  and  adopted  by  the  people  was 
just  as  legal  and  binding  without  as  with  any  such 
legislative  provision.  It  should  be  understood  that, 
although  the  legislative  power  was  nominally  in  the 
General  Assembly,  yet  there  were  powers  outside  which 
often,  to  a  great  extent,  controlled  that  body,  so  that  after 
all,  the  General  Assembly  was  little  more  than  the 
mouthpiece  of  an  aristocracy,  invisible  to  the  masses ; 
when,  therefore,  we  speak  of  the  General  Assembly,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  its  members  were  not  always 
their  own  keepers. 

After  the  General  Assembly  had  passed  the  act  afore 
said,  sometimes  called  the  "  Algerine  Act,"  the  charter 
authorities  looked  about  to  ascertain  how  far  its  menaces 
would  go  to  deter  the  people  from  sustaining  their  own 
constitution.  It  soon  became  apparent  that,  although  a 
portion  of  the  irresolute  and  timid  might  be  terrified 
and  induced  to  abandon  their  course,  yet  that  a  majority 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  69 

at  least  would  remain  faithful.  Every  charter  function 
ary  was  on  the  qui  vive.  Something  more  must  be 
done,  or  the  government  under  the  new  constitution 
would  go  quietly  into  operation.  Samuel  Ward  King 
was  the  acting  governor  of  the  state,  but  his  authority 
was  only  nominal ;  for  not  only  behind  him,  but  above, 
around,  and  beneath  the  throne,  were  powers  greater 
than  his.  Any  one  may  command  a  ship  in  a  calm,  but 
when  the  storms  come  and  the  winds  blow,  the  old 
salts  take  her  in  charge.  On  the  4th  of  April,  1842, 
about  two  weeks  before  the  time  appointed  for  the  elec 
tion  of  state  officers  under  the  constitution,  his  excel 
lency  Governor  King  despatched  the  following  letter 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States  :  — 

PROVIDENCE,  April  4,  1842. 

SIR  :  The  State  of  Rhode  Island  is  threatened  with 
domestic  violence.  Apprehending  that  the  legislature 
cannot  be  convened  in  sufficient  season  to  apply  to  the 
government  of  the  United  States  for  effectual  protec 
tion  in  this  case,  I  hereby  apply  to  you,  as  the  execu 
tive  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  for  the  protection 
which  is  required  by  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States.  To  communicate  more  fully  with  you  on  this 
subject,  I  have  appointed  John  Whipple,  John  Brown 
Francis,  and  Elisha  R.  Potter,  Esquires,  three  of  our 
most  distinguished  citizens,  to  proceed  to  Washington, 
and  to  make  known  to  you,  in  behalf  of  this  state,  the 
circumstances  which  call  for  the  interposition  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  for  our  protection. 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

SAMUEL  W.  KING, 
Governor  of  Rhode  Island. 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


70  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF 

On  the  same  day  the  governor  wrote  another  long 
letter  to  the  president,  informing  him  that  the  gentle 
men  whom  he  had  commissioned  to  proceed  forthwith 
to  Washington,  and  crave  audience  with  the  president, 
were  "  three  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  the 
state,"  also  notifying  the  president  of  the  imminent  dan 
ger  which  the  crazy  old  charter  government  was  in. 
He  stated  that  notwithstanding  the  act  which  his  legis 
lature  had  passed,  "  in  relation  to  the  sovereign  power 
of  the  state,"  the  suffrage  party  appeared  determined  to 
sustain  their  constitution  ;  that  "  in  some  portions  of  the 
state,  and  in  the  city  of  Providence  particularly,  they 
might  constitute  a  majority  of  the  physical  force." 
And  he  urges  the  president  to  provide  immediate  meas 
ures  to  prevent  the  government  from  passing  into  the 
hands  of  the  people.  He  says,  "  The  protective  power 
would  be  lamentably  deficient,  if  the  beginning  of  strife 
which  is  like  the  letting  out  of  waters,  cannot  be  pre 
vented,  and  no  protection  can  be  afforded  the  state  until, 
to  many,  it  would  be  too  late." 

The  commission  proceeded  to  Washington  with  all 
possible  haste,  procured  an  interview  with  the  president, 
and  at  length  succeeded  in  making  him  believe  that  he 
was  the  rightful  arbiter  between  contending  govern 
ments  in  a  sovereign  state,  and  that  it  was  a  duty  in 
cumbent  on  him  to  employ  the  military  forces  of  the 
United  States  to  sustain  a  minority  government  holding 
under  a  dead  charter,  and  to  overthrow  a  republican 
government,  which  the  sovereign  people  had  ordained 
and  established.  The  gentlemen  commissioners  re 
turned  with  the  glad  news,  and  it  was  soon  proclaimed 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORK.  71 

that  the  president  of  the  United  States  would  furnish 
such  troops  as  the  charter  government  might  require  to 
sustain  itself  against  the  people's  constitution. 

This  information  was  immediately  spread  over  the 
state,  and  the  most  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  in 
duce  suffrage  men  to  believe  that  an  army  of  national 
troops,  with  bristling  bayonets,  only  waited  the  call  of 
the  governor  to  strike  down  every  man  who  dared  to 
go  forward  and  vote  for  officers  under  the  people's  con 
stitution. 

Now,  why  were  all  these  unparalleled  efforts  made  at 
home  and  abroad  to  defeat  the  government  under  the 
people's  constitution  ?  Was  there  any  thing  essentially 
wrong  in  that  document,  or  in  the  proceedings  which 
had  taken  place  under  it  ?  Did  the  new  government 
threaten  to  overthrow  or  disturb  any  wholesome  and 
cherished  institutions  of  the  state  ?  Certainly  not.  No 
objections  were  made  or  fears  raised  on  any  of  these 
accounts.  But  the  old  government  brought  all  their 
ostensible  opposition  to  a  single  focus ;  their  sensibili 
ties  had  become  very  acute,  and  they  saw,  as  they  pre 
tended,  with  deep  concern,  that  the  people's  constitu 
tion  was  illegal !  And  if  that  party  are  to  be  believed, 
it  was  on  that  single  ground  that  they  opposed  it.  Now, 
if  we  trace  back  their  own  history  a  few  years,  we  shall 
find  that,  in  1832,  this  same  charter  government,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  legally  fell  through  and  termi 
nated,  and  every  particle  of  legislative  authority  under 
that  instrument  came  to  a  final  end.  And  if  the  coali 
tion  which  controlled  the  state  had  been  half  as  scrupu 
lous  in  1832,  as  they  professed  to  be  in  1842,  the 


72  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

whole  government  should  have  been  surrendered,  like  a 
sinking  ship  to  the  underwriters.  The  facts  are  these. 
The  charter  required  that  the  governor,  lieutenant  gov 
ernor,  and  the  ten  senators,  or  assistants,  as  they  were 
called,  should  be  "  newly  chosen"  every  year.  There 
fore,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  May  annually,  the 
official  functions  of  the  governor  and  Senate  for  the  pre 
vious  year  expired,  and  the  "  newly-elected  "  incum 
bents,  whether  they  were  the  same  or  different  indi 
viduals,  were  engaged  and  sworn  to  discharge  the  du 
ties  of  their  respective  offices  for  the  ensuing  year,  and 
no  longer.  Now,  it  so  happened,  that  in  1832  there 
was  no  election  of  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  or 
Senate  for  that  entire  year.  The  House  of  Kepresent- 
atives  had  no  authority  except  in  concurrence  with  the 
Senate.  Therefore  the  State  of  Ehode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations  was  destitute  of  a  legislature. 

The  good  old  charter  had  aborted,  and  the  govern 
ment  had  expired.  Where  were  the  fastidious  "  law  and 
order  "  men  at  that  time,  and  what  did  they  do  in  that 
extremity  ?  Why,  they  declared  that  the  government 
must  not  thus  unceremoniously  fall  through,  and  the 
dear  people  be  put  to  the  trouble  of  instituting  a  gov 
ernment  de  novo ;  therefore  they  brought  back  the  last 
year's  governor,  and  last  year's  senators,  placed  them 
in  their  seats,  and  ordered  them  to  go  on  as  if  nothing 
had  happened,  until  a  new  election  could  be  brought 
about.  Might  not  the  whole  people,  if  they  had 
thought  proper,  during  this  interregnum  have  rallied 
round  and  formed  a  constitution,  and  set  up  a  govern 
ment  in  room  of  the  charter  government  ?  And  if  they 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  73 

had  done  so,  would  the  national  executive  have  sent  his 
troops  to  demolish  such  a  democracy  ?  Would  he  rash 
ly  have  stained  his  own  hands  with  the  blood  of  men 
striving  for  freedom  ?  When  we  recollect  that  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  not  John  Tyler,  was  president  of  the 
United  States  at  that  time,  the  question  is  answered ; 
he  would  have  taken  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of 
sustaining  the  democracy  of  the  people  against  all  its 
enemies. 

Notwithstanding  the  combined  efforts  of  the  state 
and  national  authorities  to  terrify  the  people,  and  induce 
them  to  abandon  their  constitution,  when  the  third 
Wednesday  of  April  arrived,  regularly-organized  town 
meetings  were  held,  and  a  full  complement  of  state 
officers  elected.  And  on  the  3d  day  of  May  following, 
the  members  elect  of  the  legislature,  as  required  by 
their  constitution,  met  in  the  city  of  Providence. 
Eight  or  nine  hundred  state  troops  in  uniform,  and  two 
or  three  thousand  citizens,  attended  the  procession. 
As  it  had  been  previously  ascertained  that  the  charter 
authorities  had  closed  and  barred  the  state  house,  the 
people's  legislature  proceeded  to  hold  their  session  in 
another  place.  On  counting  the  votes,  it  was  found  that 
the  whole  number,  6359,  had  been  given  for  Thomas 
Wilson  Dorr,  of  Providence,  for  governor,  and  that 
Amasa  Eddy,  Jr.,  had  been  also  elected  to  the  office  of 
lieutenant  governor,  William  H.  Smith,  secretary,  and 
Jonah  Titus,  attorney  general.  These  officers  were 
then  duly  sworn,  as  provided  in  the  constitution. 

As  soon  as  the  ceremonies  of  inauguration  were 
completed,  the  governor  was  requested  to  notify  the 
7 


74  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

president  of  the  United  States  of  the  organization  of  a 
government  under  the  constitution,  and  also  to  notify 
the  presiding  officers  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  of  the 
same  fact,  and  request  them  to  lay  the  information  be 
fore  their  respective  Houses ;  and  also  to  notify  the 
governors  of  the  several  states  of  the  same,  to  be  com 
municated  to  their  legislatures. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Governor  Dorr  de 
livered  the  following  Message  to   both  Houses  in  joint 


session: 


SENATORS  AND  REPRESENTATIVES: 

It  is  with  no  ordinary  emotions  that  I  proceed  to 
discharge  the  duties  imposed  upon  me  by  the  constitu 
tion  of  this  state,  in  submitting  such  suggestions  for 
your  consideration  as  the  occasion  requires. 

This  is  the  first  session  of  a  legislature  ever  convened 
under  a  written  constitution  of  government,  proceeding 
from  the  people  of  Rhode  Island.  That  a  majority  of 
the  people  should  have  been  so  long  debarred  from  a 
participation  in  those  rights  which  are  elsewhere  so  well 
recognized,  and  that  we  have  been  so  slow  in  arriving 
at  a  point  long  since  attained  in  other  states,  are  facts 
ill  adapted  to  elevate  our  feelings  of  state  pride,  as  suc 
cessors  of  those  venerated  men  who  here  proclaimed, 
for  the  first  time,  the  just  principles  of  religious  and 
political  freedom  which  are  now  the  common  inherit 
ance  of  American  citizens.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
peculiar  circumstances  in  which  the  people  of  this  state 
have  been  placed,  and  the  extraordinary  difficulties  with 
which  they  have  had  to  contend,  render  the  establish 
ment  ^  of  their  constitution  a  subject  of  the  deepest  sat 
isfaction  ^  to  the  people  themselves,  and  to  all  who 
sympathize  in  the  progress  of  rational  liberty.  If  the 
people  of  Rhode  Island  are  true  to  themselves,  the  de- 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORK.  75 

mocracy  of  Roger  Williams  has  this  day  been  restored  in 
the  place  where  it  originated.  The  sacred  fire,  so  long 
extinguished,  has  been  rekindled  upon  our  altar.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  people  has  been  vindicated.  The 
distinctions  of  caste  arid  privilege  have  been  abolished. 
Our  institutions  are  rendered  conformable  to  the  stan 
dard  of  our  sister  republics.  While  the  rights  of  those 
heretofore  denominated  the  freemen  of  the  state  have 
not  been  impaired,  the  rights  of  others  have  been  placed 
on  a  sure  basis,  by  constitutional  provisions  securing  the 
common  welfare  of  the  whole  people. 

On  this  peculiar  occasion,  it  is  due  to  ourselves,  and 
to  our  fellow-citizens  abroad,  who  entertain  so  lively  an 
interest  in  our  affairs,  to  pass  briefly  in  review  the  his 
tory  of  our  proceedings,  and  to  submit  them  to  the 
scrutiny  of  public  opinion  —  the  arbiter  of  political 
questions  in  a  free  country,  and  to  which,  in  the  con 
fidence  inspired  by  a  righteous  cause,  we  are  ever  ready 
to  appeal.  The  idea  of  imposing  a  government  on  the 
people  of  this  state  by  mere  power,  and  without  right, 
is  one  which  will  be  promptly  discarded  by  the  consti- 
tionalists  of  Rhode  Island.  They  maintain  the  ground 
that  they  are  not  only  a  majority,  but  that  they  have 
proceeded  rightfully  to  alter  and  reform  their  govern 
ment,  according  to  well-defined  principles  in  our  repub 
lican  system. 

The  people  of  Rhode  Island  have,  for  many  years 
past,  complained  of  manifest  defects  in  their  form  of 
government ;  the  most  serious  of  which  were  the  lim 
itation  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  an  unequal  representa 
tion,  and  the  absence  of  all  fundamental  laws  to  limit 
and  regulate  the  powers  and  functions  of  the  General 
Assembly.  The  operation  of  the  suffrage  law  of  this 
state  has  for  a  long  time  excluded  from  the  right  of 
voting  three  fifths  of  its  adult  population.  The  largest 
vote  ever  polled  by  the  freeholders  was  at  the  election 
of  the  president  in  1840,  when  eight  thousand  six 


76  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

hundred  and  sixty-two  votes  were  cast,  in  a  total  adult 
male  population,  of  permanently  resident  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  exceeding  twenty-three  thousand.  It  is 
impracticable  for  the  disfranchised  majority,  even  if  of 
pecuniary  ability  and  so  disposed,  to  qualify  themselves 
as  voters  upon  real  estate.  Although  the  Senate,  con 
sisting  of  ten  members,  was  elected  upon  general  ticket 
by  the  freemen  at  large,  yet  a  majority  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  chosen  by  towns  containing  less 
than  one  third  of  the  population  of  the  state  ;  so  that 
the  conjoint  effect  of  suffrage  and  representation  in  this 
state  has  been  to  place  all  political  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  minority  of  its  citizens,  and  to  hold  out  the  great 
est  temptation  to  that  minority  to  resist  all  changes 
which  would  divest  the  few  of  the  exclusive  control  of 
affairs.  But  if  these  evils  had  not  existed,  if  suffrage 
had  been  extended,  and  representation  had  been  equal 
ized,  still  the  want  of  fundamental  laws  to  regulate  the 
legislature  itself,  and  to  protect  the  citizen  against  legis 
lative  tyranny  or  caprice,  would  alone  have  afforded 
ample  justification  to  the  strong  impulse  among  the  peo 
ple  in  favor  of  a  state  constitution  —  such  a  constitu 
tion  as  should  define  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  establish 
the  departments  and  powers  of  government,  and  lay 
down  definite  and  permanent  rules  for  its  administra 
tion,  to  which  all  might  appeal. 

The  charter  government  of  this  state  had  no  counter 
part  in  any  state  of  the  Union.  We  have  never  had  a 
constitution,  in  the  American  sense  of  the  term.  The 
substitutes  for  it  were  a  charter  granted  by  Charles  II. 
of  England  ;  various  statutes  to  explain,  define,  and 
alter  the  charter,  and  to  supply  its  deficiencies  ;  and 
certain  usages ;  all  which,  taken  together,  composed 
our  form  of  government,  and  were  all  subject  to  the 
will  and  pleasure  of  the  General  Assembly. 

The  charter  of  1663  was  the  creation,  in  ordinary 
form,  of  a  political  corporation,  with  general  powers  of 


THOMAS  WILSON    DORR.  77 

self-government  to  the  colony  ;  and  it  granted  to  the 
colonists  the  utmost  freedom  in  all  religious  concern 
ments.  The  zeal  and  perseverance  manifested  by  Roger 
Williams  and  John  Clarke  in  obtaining  this  charter  en 
title  them  to  our  lasting  gratitude.  Our  ancestors  de 
clared  themselves  a  democracy  long  before  the  date  of 
the  charter,  and  they  lived  as  such  under  it  j  and, 
although  their  proceedings  were  subject  to  the  govern 
ment  at  home,  they  enjoyed  their  institutions,  with  little 
interruption,  to  the  time  of  the  revolution.  It  is  not 
the  charter  with  which  we  find  fault.  In  the  day  when  it 
was  granted,  it  was  a  noble  monument  of  freedom,  and 
well  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  the  people  at 
the  time.  It  has  long  since  performed  its  office,  and 
ought  to  have  been  laid  aside  in  the  colonial  archives 
when  our  connection  with  the  mother  country  was  sev 
ered.  It  is  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly  under 
this  charter,'  and  since  the  revolution  of  1776,  which 
has  occasioned  all  our  difficulties.  It  has  been  in  the 
power  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  any  moment,  by 
their  entire  control  over  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  by 
extending  it,  to  remove  every  existing  cause  of  com 
plaint  among  the  people ;  inasmuch  as  a  liberal  exten 
sion  would  have  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  liberal  consti 
tution.  The  charter  empowers  the  Assembly  to  admit 
persons  free  of  the  company,  and  prescribes  no  terms 
or  qualifications  whatever.  Before  this  charter,  and 
under  that  of  1643,  the  rule  of  admission  was  "  being 
found  meet  for  the  service  of  the  body  politic." 

After  the  charter  of  1663,  the  laws  make  mention  of 
"  competent  estates,"  without  defining  their  nature  or 
amount;  and  in  1666  the  admission  of  the  freemen 
was  transferred,  for  greater  convenience,  to  the  several 
towns,  who  were  authorized  to  make  admission  of  those 
who  were  "  deserving  thereof."  It  was  not  till  the 
year  17£4,  eighty-eight  years  after  the  settlement  of 
the  state,  that  a  definite  property  qualification  was  es- 
7* 


78  THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES    OP 

tablished  by  a  law  of  that  year,  which  enacted  that  no 
man  should  be  admitted  a  freeman  unless  possessed  of 
a  freehold  estate  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds, 
or  forty  shillings  a  year,  or  unless  he  were  the  oldest 
son  of  such  freeholder.  The  amount  of  the  qualifica 
tion  was  afterwards  raised  to  two  hundred,  then  to  four 
hundred  pounds ;  and  in  the  year  176&  it  was  dimin 
ished  to  forty  pounds,  equivalent,  in  our  present  cur 
rency,  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars,  at  which 
point  it  has  ever  since  remained. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  original  inducement  for 
the  passage  of  such  a  law,  it  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  regarded  at  the  time  as  a  serious  inconvenience, 
any  more  than  such  a  law  would  be  regarded  in  any 
state  purely  agricultural.  At  the  time  of  the  revolu 
tion,  and  for  some  years  subsequent,  the  voters  of  the 
state  were  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants.  The  state  be 
came  deeply  involved  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
The  attention  of  the  people  was  turned  from  their  own 
institutions  to  matters  of  more  general  and  absorbing 
interest ;  and  the  old  charter  system  remained,  as  before, 
the  government  of  the  state.  As  population  increased, 
and  the  inhabitants  became  more  and  more  diverted 
from  agriculture  to  other  pursuits,  the  evil  of  this  sys 
tem  became  more  manifest  —  the  number  of  voters  bear 
ing  a  constantly  decreasing  proportion  to  the  whole 
number  of  adult  male  citizens.  The  vote  polled  fifty 
years  ago,  at  ordinary  elections,  was  not,  as  has  been 
stated,  two  thousand  less  than  the  average  vote  at  our 
elections  at  the  present  day,  in  a  population  nearly 
double  in  numbers. 

A  political  injustice  so  marked  as  this  did  not  fail  to 
suggest  the  proper  remedy  by  an  extension  of  suffrage. 
In  the  course  of  time,  the  apportionment  of  represent 
atives,  which  was  fairly  made  in  the  charter,  according 
to  population,  had  become  extremely  unequal.  A  move 
ment  in  favor  of  a  constitution  was  made  near  the  close 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  79 

of  the  last  century,  but  without  any  practical  results. 
In  the  year  1811  a  bill  to  extend  suffrage  to  all  citizens 
who  paid  taxes  and  performed  military  duty  was  passed 
in  the  Senate,  but  was  lost  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  In  the  year  1819,  and  the  three  following  years, 
the  subject  of  a  state  constitution  was  again  agitated, 
and  the  oppressive  inequality  of  our  present  system  was 
clearly  demonstrated,  but  with  the  usual  want  of  suc 
cess.  In  1824  a  convention  of  the  freemen  was  called 
by  the  General  Assembly  to  form  a  constitution.  This 
convention  proposed  to  the  freemen  a  constitution  which 
redressed,  in  part,  the  inequalities  of  our  representa 
tion  ;  but  a  resolution  to  extend  suffrage  to  others  be 
sides  landholders  received  only  three  votes.  This  con 
stitution  was  voted  down  by  a  large  majority. 

In  1829  a  renewed  interest  upon  the  question  of  their 
rights  was  awakened  among  the  disfranchised  inhab 
itants,  especially  in  the  city  of  Providence.  Frequent 
meetings  were  held,  and  a  petition  numerously  signed 
was  addressed  to  the  General  Assembly.  It  was  so  far 
deemed  worthy  of  notice  as  to  be  referred  to  a  commit 
tee,  and  to  be  made  the  subject  of  a  report,  drawn  up 
by  a  very  distinguished  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  This  committee  treated  the  application  of 
the  petitioners  with  scorn  and  contumely;  described 
them  as  a  low  and  degraded  portion  of  the  community  ; 
and  reminded  them  that,  if  they  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  institutions  of  the  state,  they  were  at  liberty  to 
leave  it.  The  report  was  received  and  printed,  and 
considered,  with  much  exultation,  as  the  most  effective 
rebuke  ever  administered  to  the  advocates  of  liberal 
suffrage  in  Rhode  Island. 

In  1832  an  attempt  to  obtain  a  participation  ia  the 
elective  right  shared  a  similar  fate. 

In  1834  a  party  was  organized  for  the  express  pur 
pose  of  accomplishing  the  same  object  Jjy  direct  politi 
cal  action  on  the  electors  of  the  state.  ~  After  a  resolute 


gO  THE  LIFE  ASE  TIMES  OF 

struggle  of  four  years,  this  party  became  extinct,  with 
out  having  apparently  created  much  impression  upon 
the  freemen,  or  having  tended,  in  any  perceptible  de 
gree,  to  change  their  fixed  determination  never  to 
abandon  the  existing  suffrage  laws. 

But  the  movement  of  this  party  gave  occasion  for 
some  alarm;  and  the  General  Assembly  forthwith 
called  a  convention  of  freemen,  who  met  at  Providence, 
in  September,  1834,  to  propose  amendments  to  the 
existing  institutions  of  the  state,  or  to  form  a  constitu 
tion,  as  they  might  deem  expedient.  A  motion  to  ex 
tend  suffrage  beyond  the  landed  qualification  was  de 
cisively  negatived,  only  seven  members  voting  in  its 
favor.  The  convention  was  unable  to  maintain  a 
quorum,  and  adjourned  without  proposing  a  constitu 
tion,  or  any  part  of  one,  to  their  constituents, 

A  whole  generation  had  thus  passed  away  in  fruitless 
efforts  to  obtain,  as  a  grant  from  .the  chartered  authori 
ties,  those  rights  which  are  every  where  else,  through 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  great  republic, 
regarded  as  the  birthright  of  the  people.  The  legislature 
had  been  repeatedly  approached  in  terms  of  respectful 
petition,  and  the  applicants  had  been  driven  away  as 
intruders  upon  the  vested  rights  of  the  ruling  political 
class.  The  General  Assembly,  which  was  invested  with 
as  full  power  to  alter  the  law  of  suffrage  in  favor  of  the 
people,  as  to  establish  the  law  originally,  without  any 
prescription  in  the  charter,  had  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
reiterated  and  most  earnest  remonstrances  of  a  long  in 
jured  and  oppressed  majority. 

The  conventions  of  the  freemen  had  manifested,  if 
possible,  a  still  greater  hostility  to  the  claims  of  the 
majority.  The  anxious  inquiry  of  the  people  began  to 
be  raised  —  Is  there  no  remedy  .for  these  manifest 
grievances?  Must  we  submit  forever  to  be  trodden 
under  foot  by  men  no  better  than  ourselves  ?  Is  the 
law  of  a  minority,  who  happen  to  possess  the  control  of 


THOMAS   WILSON   DOUR.  81 

a  state,  like  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  to  be 
the  immutable  standard  of  right  and  justice,  in  despite 
of  all  the  changes  which  have  been  occasioned  by  time 
and  circumstances  in  the  condition  of  the  state  and  its 
inhabitants  ?  Was  this  designed  to  be  a  government  of 
the  few,  or  of  the  many  ?  Have  we  gained  or  lost  by 
the  boasted  emancipation  of  our  state  from  colonial  sub 
jection  ?  Questions  like  these  were  naturally  inter 
changed  among  those  who  felt  the  pressure  of  a  com 
mon  injustice ;  and  they  became  bound  together  in 
attachment  to  a  common  cause,  and  in  a  struggle  for 
the  same  just  and  equal  rights.  And  who  were  these 
men  ?  They  were  the  younger  sons  of  farmers,  the 
great  body  of  the  mechanics  and  of  the  workingmen  of 
the  state. 

They  found  among  their  number  nearly  all  the  sur 
viving  patriots  of  the  revolution,  who  felt  themselves- 
impelled  to  assert,  in  the  period  of  venerable  age,  the 
same  cause  to  which  they  had  devoted  the  freshness  and 
vigor  of  their  youthful  days.  The  men  thus  hopelessly 
disfranchised  were  those  to  whom  the  defence  of  the 
country  is  committed  in  time  of  war,  who  protect  the 
community  against  the  ravages  of  conflagration,  who 
sustain  their  equal  amount  of  the  burdens  of  commu 
nity,  and  who  sustain,  by  indirect  taxation,  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States.  They  were  sensible  of  no 
inferiority  of  nature  or  condition,  which  marked  them 
for  the  subjects  rather  than  the  citizens  of  a  nominally 
republican  government.  They  were  the  descendants  of 
ancestors  who  had  proclaimed  to  the  world,  for  the  first 
time  in  its  history,  the  first  principles  of  a  democratic 
government,  or  of  the  men  who  contributed  their  sub 
stance,  their  honor,  and  their  lives  to  the  freedom  and 
independence  of  their  country.  Could  they  hesitate  in  the 
course  which  they  were  bound  to  pursue  ?  It  was  idle  to 
tell  them  that  they  were  well  governed,  and  that  the 
existing  authorities  were  better  qualified  to  provide  for 


8£  THE   LIFE   AKD  TIMES   OP  / 

their  interests,  than  they  were  to  take  care  of  them 
selves.  They  felt  in  their  inmost  hearts  the  proud  re 
sponse  of  American  freemen,  conscious  of  their  rights, 
and  daring  to  maintain  them. 

While  it  is  the  right  of  a  British  subject  to  be  well 
governed,  they  believed  it  to  be  the  right  of  American 
citizens  to  govern  themselves  ;  and  they  determined  to 
remove  the  badge  of  servitude  fastened  upon  them  by  a 
landed  oligarchy. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1840,  an  association  of 
mechanics,  mostly  non-freeholders,  was  organized  in 
this  city,  for  the  final  attainment  of  their  political  rights  ; 
and  similar  associations  were  soon  formed  in  many  other 
towns  of  the  state.  A  portion  of  the  members  of  these 
associations,  still  retaining  a  hope  that  the  General  As 
sembly  'might  lend  an  ear  to  the  remonstrances  of  the 
people,  presented  once  more  a  petition  at  the  January 
session,  1841,  for  a  redress  of  their  political  grievances. 
The  petition  was  not  acted  upon.  At  the  same  session, 
a  memorial  from  the  town  of  Smithfield,  praying  for  an 
increase  in  its  representation,  received  the  attention  of 
the  House,  and  a  committee  once  more  reported  a  bill 
for  a  freemen's  convention  to  form  a  constitution.  The 
experience  of  the  past  had  forbidden  disfranchised  citi 
zens  to  expect,  from  a  convention  so  organized,  any 
favorable  result ;  and  they  soon  after  proceeded  to  call 
a  mass  convention  of  the  people  to  consider  the  condi 
tion  and  prospects  of  their  cause.  This  convention  met 
in  Providence  on  the  18th  of  April,  1841.  A  second 
mass  convention  was  held  at  Newport  on  the  5th  of 
May,  when  it  was  resolved  that  a  convention  of  the 
people  at  large  should  be  called  for  the  formation  of  a 
republican  constitution ;  and  a  state  committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  issue  the  call.  The  General  Assembly  met 
in  May,  1841,  and  passed  a  law  for  the  more  equal 
apportionment  among  the  towns  of  the  delegates  to  the 
freeholders'  convention  in  November.  At  the  ad- 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  83 

journed  session  in  June,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the 
House  to  admit  tax-payers  to  vote  with  the  freemen  in 
the  choice  of  delegates  to  the  November  convention. 
This  bill  was  negatived  by  the  same  decisive  vote  that 
had  been  before  given  against  all  propositions  for  an 
extension  of  suffrage. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  1841,  the  Newport  mass  conven 
tion  held  an  adjourned  meeting  at  Providence,  and, 
having  become  satisfied  that  there  was  no  longer  any 
hope  from  the  General  Assembly,  issued  instructions  to 
the  state  committee  to  proceed  forthwith  in  the  call  of 
a  popular  convention ;  which  instructions  were  com 
plied  with,  by  issuing  to  all  the  towns  in  the  state  a 
request  to  elect  delegates,  in  the  proportion,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  of  one  to  every  thousand  inhabitants,  to 
assemble  at  Providence  in  October  for  the  purpose 
aforesaid.  Meetings  of  the  citizens  were  duly  held, 
pursuant  to  notice,  in  nearly  all  the  towns  of  the  state, 
in  the  latter  part  of  August,  moderators  and  clerks 
were  appointed,  and  delegates  were  elected  in  the  usual 
form  for  such  occasions.  A  large  majority  of  the  dele 
gates  assembled  in  convention,  at  Providence,  on  the 
4th  day  of  October  ;  and,  after  having  formed  the  plan 
of  a  constitution,  adjourned  till  the  next  month,  in 
order  that  their  labors  might  be  submitted  to  the  inves 
tigation  of  the  public.  The  convention  reassembled 
in  N  ovember ;  and  after  making  several  amendments, 
finally  passed  upon  the  constitution,  and  proposed  it  for 
adoption,  or  rejection,  to  the  adult  male  population,  who 
were  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  had  their  per 
manent  residence,  or  home,  in  the  state.  The  question 
upon  the  constitution  was  taken  on  the  days  appointed 
in  the  same,  in  the  month  of  December,  1841 ;  and  the 
result  was,  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  by  a  large 
majority. 

The  freeholders'  convention  met  in  November,  and, 
after  preparing  the  plan  of  a  constitution  —  in  which, 


84  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

however,  there  were  some  provisions  proposed  only, 
and  not  acted  upon,  —  adjourned  to  the  month  of  Feb 
ruary,  1842.  Their  adjournment  took  place  prior  to 
the  second  meeting  of  the  convention  of  the  people. 
The  freeholders'  convention,  at  their  first  session,  ex 
tended  suffrage  beyond  the  existing  freehold  qualifica 
tion,  to  the.  possessors  of  personal  property  of  the  value 
of  five  hundred  dollars.  This  convention  met  again, 
according  to  adjournment,  in  February,  completed  their 
constitution,  and  submitted  it  to  those  of  the  people 
who  were  qualified  to  vote  under  it ;  by  whom,  in  the 
month  succeeding,  it  was  rejected. 

This  constitution  was  voted  against  by  a  large  majority 
of  the  friends  of  the  people's  constitution  —  not  because 
it  was  made  by  the  freemen,  and  not  by  themselves,  but  be 
cause  its  leading  provisions  were  unjust  and  anti-repub 
lican,  and  tended  to  prolong,  under  a  different  guise, 
some  of  the  greatest  of  those  evils  which  had  been  the 
occasion  of  so  much  complaint  under  the  old  charter 
system.  It  is  a  fact  which  challenges  contradiction, 
and  is  familiar  to  every  man  in  this  state,  that  the 
friends  of  political  reform  and  equal  rights  have  ever 
been  desirous,  previous  to  the  adoption  of  their  consti 
tution,  that  all  changes  in  their  form  of  government 
should  be  made  through  the  action  of  the  Assembly,  or 
the  body  of  the  freemen.  The  course  adopted  by  them 
during  a  long  series  of  years  —  their  respectful  applica 
tions  to  the  Assembly  —  their  delay  in  the  call  of  a 
popular  convention,  until  every  probability  of  redress 
had  been  cut  off,  and  patience  had  ceased  to  be  a  virtue, 
will  satisfy  all  candid  men  that  the  minority  are  in  the 
wrong  on  this  point,  and  that  the  people  have  pursued 
the  only  course  consistent  with  a  proper  regard  to  their 
rights  as  citizens  of  a  free  country. 

Two  questions  here  arise,  to  which  it  is  our  duty  to 
reply  —  a  question  of  right,  and  a  question  of  fact. 
Had  the  people  of  this  state  a  right  to  adopt  a  constitu- 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  8,5 

tion  of  government  in  the  mode  they  have  pursued  ? 
and,  if  so,  have  they  adopted  this  constitution  by  a 
majority  of  their  whole  number  ? 

That  the  sovereignty  of  this  country  resides  in  the 
people,  is  an  axiom  in  the  American  system  of  govern 
ment,  which  it  is  too  late  to  call  in  question.  By  the 
theory  of  other  governments,  the  sovereign  power  is 
vested  in  the  head  of  the  state,  or  shared  with  him  by 
the  legislature.  The  sovereignty  of  the  country  from 
which  we  derive  our  origin,  and,  I  may  add,  many  of 
our  opinions  upon  political  subjects  inconsistent  with 
our  present  condition,  is  in  the  king  and  Parliament ; 
and  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  change 
the  government  of  that  country  would  be  deemed  an 
insurrection.  There  all  reform  must  proceed  from  the 
government  itself,  which  calls  no  conventions  of  the 
people,  and  recognizes  no  such  remedy  for  political 
grievances.  In  this  country,  the  case  is  totally  the  re 
verse.  "When  the  revolution  severed  the  ties  of  allegi 
ance  which  bound  the  colonies  to  the  parent  country, 
the  sovereign  power  passed  from  its  former  possessors 
—  not  to  the  general  government,  which  was  the  crea 
tion  of  the  states  ;  nor  to  the  state  governments ;  nor 
to  a  portion  of  the  people  ;  but  to  the  whole  people  of 
the  states,  in  whom  it  has  ever  since  remained.  This 
is  the  doctrine  of  our  fathers,  and  of  the  early  days  of 
the  republic,  and  should  be  sacredly  guarded  as  the 
only  safe  foundation  of  our  political  fabric.  The  idea 
that  government  is  in  any  proper  sense  the  source  of 
power  in  this  country,  is  of  foreign  origin,  and  at  war 
with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  our  institutions.  The  mo 
ment  we  admit  the  principle  that  no  change  in  govern 
ment  can  take  place  without  permission  of  the  existing 
authorities,  we  revert  to  the  worn-out  theory  of  the 
monarchies  of  Europe  :  and  whether  we  are  the  sub 
jects  of  the  Czar  of  Russia,  or  of  the  monarch  of  Great 
Britain,  or  of  a  landed  oligarchy,  the  difference  to  us 
8 


86  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

is  only  in  degree ;  and  we  have  lost  the  reality,  though 
we  may  retain  the  forms,  of  a  democratic  republic.  If 
the  people  of  Rhode  Island  are  wrong  in  the  course 
they  have  pursued,  they  will  nevertheless  have  con 
ferred  one  benefit  upon  their  countrymen  by  the  agita 
tion  of  this  question,  in  dissipating  the  notion  that  the 
people  are  the  sovereigns  of  the  country,  and  in  con 
signing  to  the  department  of  rhetorical  declamations 
those  solemn  declarations  of  1776,  which  are  repeated 
in  so  many  of  the  state  constitutions,  and  which  are  so 
clearly  and  confidently  asserted  by  the  most  eminent 
jurists  and  statesmen  of  our  country. 

By  sovereign  power,  we  understand  that  ultimate 
power,  which  must  be  vested  somewhere,  and  which 
prescribes  the  form  and  functions  of  government.  It 
is,  of  course,  superior  to  the  legislative  power,  which 
can  be  properly  exerted  only  according  to  rules  laid 
down  for  its  action,  in  that  expression  of  the  sovereign 
will  called  a  constitution.  This  sovereignty  is  a  per 
sonal  attribute,  and  belongs  to  the  man  himself,  and  not 
to  the  soil  or  property  with  which  he  may  be  endowed. 
It  is  a  power  seldom  visible  ;  which  ought  to  be,  and 
can  be,  but  rarely  exerted.  The  making  and  altering 
of  laws,  which  lie  at  the  foundations  of  society,  should 
be  a  work  of  great  care  and  caution  ;  and  when  done, 
ought  to  be  well  done,  that  it  may  be  effectual  and  per 
manent.  It  is  our  misfortune  in  this  state,  that  as  no 
expression  of  the  sovereign  will  has  been,  until  re 
cently,  made  in  the  adoption  of  a  constitution,  and  no 
index  of  this  will  constantly  before  the  public  eye,  the 
distinction  between  the  two  powers  has  become  obliter 
ated  among  us  ;  and  the  legislature  has  been  regarded 
not  only  as  the  immediate  acting  power,  but  as  the  sole 
power  of  the  state  ;  and  all  who  maintain  the  right  of 
the  people,  in  their  original,  sovereign  capacity,  to  alter 
the  present  government,  and  render  it  conformable  to 
their  just  rights,  have  been  represented  as  hostile  to 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  87 

law  and  order,  and  as  putting  in  jeopardy  the  stability 
of  government.  On  the  other  hand,  we  contend  that 
the  people  have  a  right  to  change  the  government  when 
necessary  to  their  welfare  ;  that  they  are  the  judges  of 
that  necessity;  that  "time  does  not  run  against  the 
people,  any  more  than  against  the  king,"  and  that  they 
have  not  forfeited  this  .right  by  any  acquiescence ;  that 
a  power  to  assent,  involves  another  to  dissent ;  that 
even  if  a  past  generation  had  surrendered  to  a  minority 
their  political  rights,  (which  they  never  have  done,)  they 
did  not,  and  could  not,  bind  their  successors,  or  prevent 
them  from  reassuming  their  sovereignty. 

If  time  permitted,  I  should  take  great  satisfaction  in 
laying  before  you  the  most  abundant  evidence  that  these 
are  the  well-recognized  principles  of  our  republican 
system,  and  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  revolutionary. 

The  Declaration  of  American  Independence  asserts 
that  governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  con 
sent  of  the  governed,  and  that  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  (meaning  the  whole  people,  the  governed)  to 
alter  or  abolish  their  government  whenever  they  deem 
it  expedient,  and  to  institute  new  government,  laying 
its  foundations  on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely 
to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  This  Declaration 
was  expressly  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  this 
state  in  July,  1776. 

The  constitutions  of. many  of  the  states,  while  they 
contain  specific  provisions  for  the  mode  of  their  amend 
ment,  set  forth,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  right  of  the 
people  to  change  them  as  they  may  deem  expedient. 

Any  other  construction  would  render  a  portion  of  the 
declarations  of  rights  in  these  constitutions  entirely  nu 
gatory. 

The  convention  which  framed  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  acted  as  the  representatives  of  the  sov 
ereignty  of  the  people  of  the  states,  without  regard  to 


88  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

the  limitation  attempted  to  be  imposed  by  the  Congress  of 
the  confederation.  That  the  whole  people,  by  an  ex 
plicit  and  authentic  act,  —  the  great  body  of  society,  — 
have  a  right  to  make  and  alter  their  constitutions  of 
government,  is  a  principle  which  has  been  laid  down 
by  the  fathers  of  the  constitution,  and  the  ablest  ex 
pounders  of  our  political  institutions  —  by  Washington, 
Hamilton,  and  Madison.  The  strong  opinions  of  Jef 
ferson  on  this  point  are  too  well  known  to  need  a  par 
ticular  repetition. 

Chief  Justice  Jay  says,  "At  the  revolution  the 
sovereignty  devolved  on  the  people  ;  and  they  are  truly 
the  sovereigns  of  the  country."  "The  citizens  of 
America  are  equal  as  fellow-citizens,  and  as  joint 
tenants  in  the  sovereignty." 

Justice  Wilson,  of  the  same  court,  says,  "Of  the 
right  of  the  majority  of  the  whole  people  to  change 
their  government,  at  will,  there  is  no  doubt."  It  is 
this  "  one  great  principle,  the  vital  principle,"  "  which 
diffuses  animation  and  vigor  through  all  the  others." 
He  says,  "  The  principle  I  mean  is  this  —  that  the 
supreme  or  sovereign  power  of  society  resides  in  the 
citizens  at  large ;  and  that,  therefore,  they  always  re 
tain  the  right  of  abolishing,  altering,  or  amending  their 
constitution,  at  whatever  time,  and  in  whatever  man 
ner,  they  shall  deem  expedient."  "  In  our  govern 
ment,  the  supreme,  absolute,  uncontrollable  power  re 
mains  in  the  people.  As  our  constitutions  are  supe 
rior  to  our  legislatures,  so  the  people  are  superior  to  our 
constitutions."  The  consequence  is,  that  the  people 
may  change  the  constitution,  whenever  and  however 
they  please.  This  is  a  right  of  which  no  positive 
institutions  can  deprive  them. 

Mr.  Rawle,  a  distinguished  commentator  on  the  con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  in  speaking  of  the  mode 
of  amending  a  constitution,  remarks,  "  The  people  re 
tain  —  the  people  cannot,  perhaps,  divest  themselves  of 


•    THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  89 

—  the  power  to  make  such  alterations."  "  The  laws  of 
one  legislature  may  be  repealed  by  another  legislature, 
and  the  power  to  repeal  them  cannot  be  withheld  by 
the  power  that  enacted  them.  So  the  people  may,  on 
the  same  principle,  at  any  time  alter  or  abolish  the  con 
stitution  they  have  formed.  If  a  particular  mode  of 
effecting  such  alterations  have  been  agreed  upon,  it  is 
most  convenient  to  adhere  to  it ;  but  it  is  not  exclu 
sively  binding." 

It  is  impossible  to  misunderstand  language  like  this.  It 
might  be  suggested  that  the  people  referred  to  are  those 
who  are  recognized  as  voters  by  constitution  or  laws  ;  but 
the  language  used  is  too  clear  to  admit  of  such  an  inter 
pretation.  It  is  the  whole  people,  the  people  at  large, 
who  have  the  right  to  change  the  institutions  under  which 
they  live.  Nor  is  this  a  dangerous  doctrine  in  its  prac 
tical  application.  This,  I  believe,  is  the  only  state  in 
which  the  majority  of  the  whole  people  do  not  partake 
of  the  electoral  privilege.  All  other  states  have  written 
constitutions,  with  precise  provisions  for  their  amend 
ment.  It  is  hardly  possible  for  a  case  to  occur  in  any 
other  state,  which  would  require  the  interposition  of  the 
people  in  any  other  than  the  prescribed  mode.  In  all 
others  suffrage  has  been  enlarged,  and  all  complaints 
respecting  a  limitation  of  suffrage  or  inequality  of  rep 
resentation  have  been  redressed  without  any  very  pro 
tracted  delay.  The  constitution  will  here  also  be  re 
garded  as  a  final  measure.  While  we  assert  the  sov 
ereign  right  of  the  people  in  our  own  case,  and  presume 
not  to  limit  its  exercise  under  possible  exigencies  not 
now  foreseen,  and  of  which  every  generation  must  judge 
for  itself,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Khode  Island 
will  be  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  in  other  states, 
or  to  doubt  that  its  constitution  will  become  a  perma 
nent  as  well  as  paramount  law,  to  be  altered  or  amended 
according  to  its  prescribed  mode. 

But,  whatever  opinions  may  be  entertained  respecting 
8* 


90  THE   LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

the  right  of  the  whole  people  to  change  a  constitution 
in  any  other  than  the  prescribed  mode,  where  such  a 
mode  exists,  there  is  a  point  in  our  case  to  which  the 
attention  o'f  every  one  should  be  closely  invited.  Until 
the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution,  there  has  been 
no  mode  prescribed  in  this  state,  either  by  the  charter 
or  by  'any  law  or  usage,  for  amending  our  form  of  gov 
ernment.  The  charter  contains  no  such  direction ;  be 
ing  a  royal  grant,  the  power  to  amend  by  a  supple 
mental  charter  remained  in  the  grantor,  and  needed  no 
specification.  The  charter  contains  a  very  general  au 
thority  to  make  all  necessary  laws ;  but  they  must  be 
consistent  with  the  royal  prerogative,  and  with  the 
rights  of  Parliament.  The  power  of  amending  the 
charter  passed  over  to  the  people  of  the  state,  as  an  in 
cident  to  their  sovereignty,  at  the  revolution. 

In  the  absence  of  any  such  provision,  it  is  a  totally 
unfounded  assumption  in"  the  charter  Assembly  to  pre 
tend  that  the  proceedings  of  the  people  are  null  and 
void  for  want  of  a  compliance  with  law,  when  no  legal 
or  other  provision  exists  upon  the  subject.  All  that  the 
General  Assembly  have  ever  done,  has  been  to  request, 
in  their  own  form,  the  freemen  to  assemble  and  elect 
delegates  to  form  a  constitution. 

The  freemen,  if  they  saw  fit,  might  at  any  time  have 
chosen  such  delegates,  without  such  a  request,  in  their 
own  form,  and  with  an  equally  valid  effect.  Is  it  not 
apparent  that  the  people  at  large  have  a  still  greater 
right  to  do  the  same  thing  in  this  state  ?  They  have 
demanded  in  vain  that  any  valid  legal  objections  to  their 
proceedings  should  be  produced.  It  is  to  the  last  de 
gree  ungenerous  and  unjust  that  the  freemen  should  set 
up  their  own  neglect  in  years  past  to  provide  a  consti 
tutional  mode  of  amendments  as  a  bar  to  the  action  of 
the  people,  in  the  only  mode  in  which  they  can  act  at 
all.  When  any  disposition  is  manifested  to  amend  our 
constitution,  in  a  different  mode  from  that  prescribed  in 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  91 

it,  it  will  be  time  for  alarmists  to  suggest  the  danger 
and  instability  that  may  possibly  occur  from  any  irregu 
lar  action  of  the  people. 

But  was  this  sovereign  power  of  the  people  exer 
cised,  in  fact,  by  a  majority  of  the  whole  people  of  the 
state  ?  We  assert,  with  entire  confidence,  that  it  was. 
The  voting  was  conducted  as  fairly  as  at  any  election 
ever  held  in  this  state.  All  challenges  of  voters  were 
received  and  entertained.  The  moderators  of  the  meet 
ings,  who  received  the  votes,  were  not  under  oath  ; 
neither  are  those  of  the  freemen's  meetings.  The 
town  clerks,  and  wardens,  and  ward  clerks,  in  the  city 
of  Providence,  act  under  an  engagement ;  and  this  is 
the  only  difference  between  the  meetings  of  the  free 
men  and  those  of  the  people.  This  difference  will 
create  no  serious  objection,  when  it  is  stated  that  the 
name  of  every  man  who  voted  for  the  people's  consti 
tution  was  written  on  his  ticket ;  and  that  the  ticket  of 
every  man  who  did  not  attend  the  polls  on  the  three 
last  of  the  six  days  of  voting,  in  addition  to  his  sig 
nature,  was  attested  by  that  of  some  person  who  voted 
at  the  polls  on  the  three  first  days.  These  proxy  votes 
were  but  a  small  portion  of  the  whole.  Still  further  : 
the  name  of  every  man  who  voted  was  registered ;  and 
a  copy  of  the  register  in  every  town  and  ward  was  duly 
certified  with  the  votes.  All  the  votes  have  been  pre 
served  in  their  envelopes  for  any  subsequent  reference. 
The  votes  were  duly  returned  to  the  people's  conven 
tion,  and  were  examined  and  counted  by  a  large  com 
mittee.  The  committee  reported  that,  as  nearly  as 
could  be  ascertained,  the  number  of  males  in  this  state 
over  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  and  permanently  resident,  deducting  persons  un 
der  guardianship,  insane,  and  convict,  was  23,142,  of 
whom  a  majority  is  11,572 ;  and  that  the  people's  con 
stitution  received  13,944  votes  —  being  a  majority  of 
4747.  After  making  every  reasonable  allowance  for 


92  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

questionable  votes,  from  which  no  election  can  be  en 
tirely  free,  it  is  impossible  to  entertain  a  reasonable 
doubt  that  a  large  majority  of  the  whole  people  fairly 
voted  for  this  constitution.  The  report  of  the  counting 
committee  was  transmitted  to  the  General  Assembly  at 
the  January  session,  1842,  and  a  motion  was  made  to 
inquire  into  the  return  of  the  votes  polled ;  but  it  was 
negatived,  as  usual,  by  a  large  majority. 

An  attempt  to  impeach  the  return  has  been  made,  by 
drawing  an  unfavorable  inference  from  the  subsequent 
diminished  vote  against  the  constitution  of  the  free 
holders.  But  the  attempt  fails  at  once,  when  it  is  un 
derstood  that  a  considerable  number  of  those  who  voted 
for  the  people's  constitution,  and  are  now  friendly  to  it, 
voted  also  for  the  freeholders'  constitution,  as  a  mode 
of  obtaining  a  part  of  their  rights  and  of  terminating 
all  controversies.  Many  who  voted  for  the  first-named 
constitution  were  excluded  from  a  vote  against  the 
second  by  its  suffrage  provisions  ;  and  there  were  others 
who  were  qualified,  but  declined  to  vote  at  all. 

At  the  election  of  state  officers  under  the  people's 
constitution,  there  were  no  opposing  candidates ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  powerful  influences  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  election,  there  was  a  larger  vote  by  1600  than 
was  polled  for  the  officers  of  our  opponents  at  the  elec 
tion  held  by  the  freemen.  At  this  election,  a  portion  of 
those  freeholders  who  are  the  friends  of  the  people's 
constitution,  and  who  had  voted  for  officers  at  the  elec 
tion  held  under  that  constitution  on  Monday,  voted 
again  for  a  constitutional  candidate,  and  have  been  very 
strangely  claimed,  in  consequence,  by  the  party  who 
sustain  the  old  charter  system. 

When  the  constitution  of  the  people  is  examined, 
without  reference  to  its  origin,  it  is  found  that  there  are 
tew  objections  made  against  it.  It  guards  with  great 
care  all  civil  and  political  rights  ;  it  establishes  as  equal 
a  representation  as  the  circumstances  of  the  state  will 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  93 

permit,  and  a  Senate  to  be  chosen  in  districts  under  such, 
an  appointment  as  to  secure  to  a  majority  of  the  pop 
ulation  a  majority  of  its  members.  The  freeholders' 
constitution,  on  the  other  hand,  was  rejected  for  many 
reasons  —  one  of  which  was  its  defective  provisions 
relating  to  suffrage,  and  its  exclusion  of  the  vote  by 
ballot.  The  main  objection  was,  that  it  entirely  abol 
ished  the  majority  principle  in  our  government.  Under 
it,  both  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the  Senate 
were  to  be  elected  by  towns  and  districts  containing  less 
than  one  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  state.  The 
senators  were  also  assigned  to  the  districts,  without 
scarcely  any  reference  to  their  population. 

By  the  nature  of  the  provisions  relative  to  amend 
ment,  any  subsequent  improvement  of  this  instrument 
was  rendered  nearly  impracticable. 

At  the  session  of  the  Assembly  in  March,  1842,  the 
people's  constitution  came  under  the  consideration  of 
that  body,  twice  ratified  —  directly  by  the  votes  of  the 
people  in  its  favor,  and  indirectly  by  the  rejection  of 
another  instrument.  But  these  repeated  manifestations 
of  the  popular  will  were  totally  disregarded.  A  bill  to 
conform  the  general  election  to  the  provisions  of  this 
constitution,  and  another  to  submit  it  to  those  who  were 
qualified  to  vote  under  the  constitution  of  the  freehold 
ers,  were  promptly  rejected.  A  proposition  was  made 
to  extend  suffrage  ;  and  a  second  proposition  was  offered 
at  the  adjourned  session  in  April,  for  the  call  of  another 
convention  to  form  a  constitution  —  the  delegates  to 
which  convention  were  to  be  voted  for  by  a  constitu 
ency  not  much  extended  beyond  the  present  freeholder. 
Both  propositions  shared  the  fate  of  the  preceding. 

Your  attention  will  be  required  to  the  force  law  and 
resolutions  recently  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly 
for  the  suppression  of  the  constitution.  Laws  like 
these,  which  violate  in  some  of  their  provisions  the 
well-known  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  subjects  of  the 


94  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

„  .. 

British  monarchy,  could  hardly  find  favor  in  the  land 
of  Roger  Williams.  These  enactments  have  been  re 
garded  by  the  considerate  men  among  our  opponents  as 
most  impolitic  and  unjust,  and  by  the  people  as  null 
and  void,  because  conflicting  with  the  paramount  pro 
visions  of  the  constitution. 

Military  preparations  have  been  made  by  direction 
of  the  Assembly,  and  the  people  have  been  conse 
quently  put  upon  the  defensive.  But  this  is  not  the 
age  nor  the  country  in  which  the  will  of  the  people 
can  be  overawed  or  defeated  by  measures  like  these. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  letter  addressed  to 
Governor  King  by  the  president  of  the  United  States 
was  written  under  a  mistake  of  the  facts,  occasioned  by 
the  misrepresentation  of  the  character,  motives,  and 
objects  of  the  constitutionalists  of  this  state. 

Our  fellow-citizens  in  other  states  will  perceive,  from 
the  exposition  which  has  been  made,  without  further 
comment,  that  the  people  of  this  state  are  engaged  in  a 
just  and  honorable  cause,  and  that  they  have  taken  the 
only  course  for  the  attainment  and  security  of  their  just 
rights. 

We  are  assembled  in  pursuance  of  the  constitution, 
and  under  a  sacred  obligation  to  carry  its  provisions 
into  effect.  Knowing  the  spirit  which  you  have  man 
ifested  throughout  this  exciting  controversy ;  the  mod 
erate,  but  determined,  course  which  you  have  pursued  ; 
your  love  of  order,  and  respect  for  all  constitutional 
laws,  and  for  the  rights  of  all  other  persons,  while 
engaged  in  the  acquisition  of  your  own,  I  hardly  need 
to  remind  you  of  your  duty  to  cast  behind  you  all  in 
juries  or  provocations,  and  to  leave  them  to  the  retribu 
tive  justice  of  public  opinion,  which  will  ultimately 
appreciate  every  sincere  sacrifice  to  the  cause  of  truth, 
of  freedom,  and  humanity.  Entertaining  the  deep  and 
earnest  conviction  that  we  are  engaged  in  such  a  cause, 
and  conscious  of  our  own  imperfections,  let  us  implore 


THOMAS   WILSON  DORR.  95 

the  favor  of  that  gracious  Providence  which  guided  the 
steps  of  our  ancestors,  upon  this  our  attempt  to  restore, 
and  permanently  secure,  the  blessings  of  that  well- 
ordered  and  rational  freedom  here  established  by  the 
patriotic  founders  of  our  state. 

The  provisions  in  the  constitution,  relating  to  the  se 
curity  of  the  right  of  suffrage  against  fraud,  and  to  the 
registration  of  voters,  will  require  your  immediate  ac 
tion.  The  state  demands  of  its  government  an  econom 
ical  administration  of  affairs,  and  will  justly  complain 
of  any  increase  of  its  ordinary  expenses  at  the  present 
period. 

I  cannot  more  appropriately  conclude  this  commu 
nication  than  in  the  words  of  the  constitution,  which 
declares  that  "  no  favor  or  disfavor  ought  to  be  shown 
in  legislation  towards  any  man,  or  party,  or  society,  or 
religious  denomination.  The  laws  should  be  made,  not 
for  the  good  of  the  few,  but  of  the  many  ;  and  the 
burdens  of  the  state  ought  to  be  fairly  distributed 
among  its  citizens." 

THOMAS  W.  DORR. 

PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  May  4,  1842. 

Rhode  Island,  at  this  moment,  presented  a  strange 
anomaly.  While  the  legislature  at  Providence  were 
holding  a  regular  session,  as  provided  by  the  con 
stitution,  the  old  charter  General  Assembly  was  sit 
ting  at  Newport.  There  were  two  separate  Assemblies, 
sitting  at  the  two  capitals,  and  exercising  distinct  legis 
lative  functions  ;  each  claiming  to  be  the  legitimate 
government.  In  view  of  what  has  been  stated,  it  must 
be  apparent  that  the  people  of  the  state  had  declared  it  to 
be  their  wish  and  determination,  that  the  old  charter  gov 
ernment  should  cease,  and  come  to  a  full  end,  on  the  3d 
of  May  of  that  year3  and  that  the  government  under  their 


96  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

constitution  should  take  its  place,  and  be  organized  in 
its  stead ;  and  to  that  unmistakable  expression  of  the 
people's  will  every  good  citizen  was  bound  to  yield. 
But  all  history  shows  that  when  men,  either  justly  or 
unjustly,  become  clothed  with  political  authority,  they 
part  with  it  with  extreme  reluctance  ,•  physical  force 
has  almost  always  been  necessary  to  transfer  political 
power  from  one  class  of  men  to  another.  The  natural 
propensity  of  mankind  was  strengthened  in  this  case  by 
another  consideration.  The  state  had,  for  a  long  time, 
been  governed  exclusively  by  freeholders,  and  those 
who  held  important  offices  in  the  government  of  the 
state  had  always  opposed  every  effort  made  by  the  non- 
freeholders  to  obtain  their  political  rights ;  and  as  the 
number  of  non-freeholders  was  known  greatly  to  ex 
ceed  the  number  of  freeholders,  it  required  no  prophet 
to  tell  that  unless  the  non-freeholders  could  be  brought 
to  accept  the  franchise  as  a  special  favor  from  the  gov 
ernment,  the  old  official  incumbents  would  not  be  likely 
to  be  retained  in  office.  This  was  the  source,  and  the 
only  source,  .of  that  danger,  which  the  Rhode  Island 
authorities  saw  and  so  much  feared;  not  a  danger 
which  threatened  the  interests  of  the  state  or  the  people, 
but  which  threatened  to  bring  down  the  office  holders 
from  their  high  places,  and  consign  them  to  private  life. 
Such  men  now  entertained  a  most  fastidious  regard 
for  "  law  and  order,"  and  were  sorely  pained  at  the 
thought  that  the  state  was  in  danger  of  being  disgraced 
by  allowing  the  sovereign  people  to  wrest  the  govern 
ment  from  their  hands,  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of 
men  of  their  own  choosing. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  97 


CHAPTER    VI. 

REASONS  FOR  BELIEVING  THE  CHARTER  GOVERNMENT 
TO  BE  HELD  BY  A  MINORITY.  THE  NEGLECT  OF 
THE  PEOPLE'S  LEGISLATURE  TO  TAKE  POSSESSION  OF 
THE  PUBLIC  PROPERTY,  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES  CON 
SIDERED.  AN  EXTRACT  FROM  THE  JOURNAL  OF  THE 
HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

WE  have  seen  that,  as  early  as  the  4th  of  April, 
1842,  two  or  three  weeks  before  an  election  took  place 
under  the  people's  constitution,  the  chief  magistrate  of 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island  applied  to  the  president  of 
the  United  States  for  assistance  to  put  down  the  gov 
ernment  which  the  people  were  preparing  to  organize 
under  the  constitution  which  they  had  just  adopted. 
The  charter  authorities  well  knew  that  theirs  was  a 
minority  government,  and  they  were  well  aware  of  their 
inability  to  resist  the  free  will  of  an  intelligent  people, 
and  therefore  took  the  early  precaution  to  engage  assist-, 
ance  from  abroad,  notwithstanding  they  had  at  the 
same  time  the  full  possession  of  all  the  public  property 
—  the  control  of  the  treasury,  the  keys  of  the  state 
house  and  court  rooms,  the  command  of  the  arsenal, 
and  the  control  of  the  prisons  —  notwithstanding  they 
had  both  the  sword  and  purse  firmly  clinched  in  their 
own  hands.  With  all  these  advantages  on  their  side, 
9 


98  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

they  publicly  declared  to  the  president  and  to  the  world 
that,  unless  they  had  assistance  from  abroad,  their  gov 
ernment  was  in  danger  of  being  overthrown  by  the  peo 
ple  under  their  own  constitution.  These  facts,  which 
cannot  be  denied  or  hushed  out  of  sight,  go  to  establish 
the  point,  beyond  all  controversy,  that  the  number  in 
favor  of  the  people's  constitution  far  exceeded  the  num 
ber  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  it.  It  is  obvious  that 
while  the  people  were  left  free  to  follow  the  plain  dic 
tates  of  their  own  convictions,  — before  they  were 
drawn  away  by  promises,  or  terrified  by  threats, — 
three  fourths,  at  least,  chose  to  lay  aside  the  old  charter, 
and  submit  the  government  of  the  state  to  a  written  con 
stitution  of  their  own  making.  The  wonder  is,  that 
an  intelligent  and  resolute  people  did  not  sooner  rise  in 
their  might  and  shake  off  the  cords  by  which  they  were 
enslaved. 

On  the  day  previous  to  the  organization  of  the  legis 
lature  under  the  people's  constitution,  Mr.  Dorr  and  the 
members  elect  of  his  legislature  held  a  special  meeting 
for  deciding  upon  measures  proper  to  be  pursued.  It 
had  been  already  ascertained  that  the  state  house  in 
Providence  had  been  closed  and  barred  against  them, 
and  the  great  question  to  be  settled  was,  Should  they 
proceed  to  take  immediate  possession  of  that,  and  all 
the  other  public  property  of  the  state,  or  should  they 
suffer  it  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  their  opponents  ? 
Mr.  Dorr  strongly  urged  the  propriety  and  necessity  of 
taking  the  former  course ;  and  it  is  presumed  that  no 
one  now,  friend  or  foe,  will  say  that  that  advice  was 
not  judicious  ;  but  he  and  others,  who  thought  as  he  did, 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  99 

were  overruled,  and  that  all-important  step  was  not 
taken.  Here  was  a  fatal  mistake,  which  no  subsequent 
measures  could  remedy.  Had  Mr.  Dorr's  advice  pre 
vailed,  the  people's  government  would  by  that  single 
step  have  become  master  of  the  forces  and  finances  of 
the  state,  and  instead  of  being  a  government  in  form 
only,  it  would  have  been  a  government  in  fact  and  in 
power,  respected  at  home  and  abroad,  and  might  have 
regarded  with  indifference  any  measures  which  the  na 
tional  executive  might  adopt.  For  nearly  half  a  cen 
tury  the  people  of  Ehode  Island  had  been  striving  to 
obtain  their  just  political  rights.  The  momentous  ques 
tion  had  become  wrapped  up  in  the  decision  of  a  single 
hour  —  the  die  was  cast,  and  the 'cause  was  ruined. 
This  was  the  cruel  rock  upon  which  the  ship  was  lost. 

From    that    moment    an    unbroken    train    of    disasters 

* 

followed.  Had  the  course  been  pursued  which  Mr. 
Dorr  pointed  out,  no  important  opposition  would  have 
been  made  to  his  government,  and  many  of  those,  who, 
in  his  reverses,  were  most  anxious  to  destroy  him, 
would  have  been  among  the  foremost  to  seek  for  honor 
and  patronage  under  his  government. 

No  one  who  witnessed  the  powerful  military  escort 
and  long  procession  of  citizens  which  attended  the  in 
auguration  of  the  government  under  the  people's  con 
stitution  could  doubt  for  a  moment  the  ability  of 
Governor  Dorr  at  that  time  to  take  undisputed  posses 
sion  of  all  the  public  property  of  the  state.  Those  who 
voted  for  the  members  of  that  legislature  expected  that 
they  would  really  and  fully  assume  and  exercise  all 
the  powers  and  functions  of  a  de  facto  government. 


100  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

This  was  their  imperious  duty.  No  timid,  irresolute 
man,  no  one  panting  for  empty  distinction,  should  have 
been  there  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  that  im 
portant  occasion  :  this  was  no  time  for  vain  show  and 
empty  boasting.  None  but  men  of  high  motives  and 
undaunted  courage  should  have  mingled  in  the  deliber 
ations  of  that  momentous  crisis.  Before  the  legisla 
ture  convened,  many  honest  but  timid  men  had  become 
terrified  and  induced  to  desist  from  all  further  proceed 
ings  ;  and  now,  when  the  whole  party  saw  their  legis 
lature  ingloriously  shrink  away  into  a  private  hall  to 
exercise  the  high  functions  of  a  state  legislature,  they 
were  disappointed  and  disheartened.  The  tide,  which 
before  had  only  slackened,  instantly  began  to  ebb  with 
irresistible  force.  High-minded  men  could  not  be 
proud  of  a  government  so  meek  and  so  powerless  ;  they 
could  not  be  persuaded  that  this  was  the  government 
for  which  they  had  labored  so  ardently ;  and  in  view  of 
that  spectacle,  hundreds  retired  in  disgust  from  the  party. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Journal  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  met  in  Providence  on 
the  3d  day  of  May,  1842. 

JOURNAL  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  of  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  first 
held  in  the  City  of  Providence,  under  the  Constitution 
of  said  State,  on  Tuesday,  the  3d  day  of  May,  in 
the  year  1842. 

On  this  third  day  of  May,  1842,  (being  the  first 
Tuesday  of  said  May,)  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
said  state,  elected  under  and  by  virtue  of  the  constitu 
tion  of  said  state,  met,  and  proceeded  to  its  organization 
by  a  vote  that  the  Hon.  Dutee  J.  Pearce,  of  Newport, 
take  the  chair  for  that  purpose. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  101 

The  towns  and  representative  districts  were  called, 
and  the  credentials  of  their  respective  representatives, 
in  the  following  order,  were  presented  :  — 

City  of  Providence  : 

First  representative  district.  —  William  M.  Webster. 

Second  representative  district.  —  Samuel  H.  Wales, 
J.  F.  B.  Flagg. 

Third  representative  district.  —  William  Coleman, 
John  A.  Rowland. 

Fourth  representative  district.  —  Perez  Simmons, 
Frederick  L.  Beckford. 

Fifth  representative  district.  —  Benjamin  Arnold,  Jr., 
Franklin  Cooley. 

Sixth  representative  district.  —  William  L.  Thornton, 
John  S.  Parkis. 

Newport.  — Dutee  J.  Pearce,  Eobert  R.  Carr,  Henry 
Oman,  Daniel  Brown. 

Warwick.  —  John  G.  Mawney,  Sylvanus  C.  New 
man,  Isbon  Shearman,  Alanson  Holley. 

Portsmouth.  —  Thomas  Cory,  Parker  Hall. 

Westerly.  —  William  P.  Arnold,  Thomas  G.  Hazard. 

New  Shoreham.  —  Simeon  Babcock,  Jr.,  George  E. 
S.  Ely. 

Smithfield.  —  Elisha  Smith,  Nathaniel  Mowry,  Wel 
come  B.  Sayles,  William  B.  Taber. 

Charlestown.  — Joseph  Gavit,  Job  Taylor. 

Scituate.  —  Simon  Mathewson,  David  Phillips,  3d, 
James  Yeaw. 

North  Providence.  —  Stephen  Whipple,  Robert  G. 
Lewis,  Alfred  Anthony. 

Richmond.  —  Wells  Reynolds,  George  Niles. 

North  Kingstown.  —  Sylvester  Himes,  Samuel  C. 
Cottrel. 

Exeter.  —  George  Sprague,  Cranston  Blevin. 

Tiverton.  —  Charles  F.  Townsend. 

Bristol.  —  William  Munro,  Jeremiah  Bosworth. 
9* 


102  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

Warren.  —  Elisha  G.  Smith,  Jeremiah  "Woodmancy. 

Harrington.  —  Nathaniel  Smith. 

Glocester.  — Jeremiah  Sheldon,  George  H.  Brown. 

Cumberland.  —  Nelson  Jencks,  Columbia  Tingley, 
Barton  Whipple. 

East  Greenwich.  —  Peleg  R.  Bennet,  Sidney  Tilling- 
hast. 

West  Greenwich.  —  Nathan  Carr,  Peter  T.  Brown. 

Coventry.  —  George  Fairbanks,  Israel  Johnson. 

Foster.  —  Obadiah  Fenner,  Anan  Aldrich. 

Burrillville.  —  Alfred  L.  Comstock,  Esten  Angell. 

Cranston.  —  Ebenezer  Barney,  Albion  N.  Olney. 

Johnston.  —  Ephraim  Winsor,  Edwin  C.  Kelley. 

Upon  a  call  of  the  names  returned  by  the  credentials, 
as  aforesaid,  all  were  present  and  answered,  excepting 
Mr.  Samuel  C.  Cottrel,  of  North  Kingstown.  Sixty- 
six  members  were  present  and  answered. 

A  quorum  being  ascertained  to  be  present,  the  chair 
man  announced  the  fact ;  and  thereupon  Welcome  B. 
Sayles,  Esq.,  a  representative  from  the  town  of  Smith- 
field,  was  nominated,  and  duly  elected  speaker  by  a 
unanimous  vote. 

The  speaker,  on  taking  the  chair,  made  a  short  but 
pertinent  speech,  returning  thanks  for  the  honor  con 
ferred  upon  him  ;  and  thereupon  engaged  himself  to  the 
faithful  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the  words  and  as  re 
quired  by  the  constitution,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
House. 

The  speaker  called  every  member  by  the  list  returned, 
and  those  present  were  engaged  in  the  manner  and  form 
and  in  the  words  prescribed  in  the  constitution. 

John  S.  Harris  and  Levi  Salisbury  were  unanimously 
elected  clerks,  and  were  duly  engaged  by  the  speaker. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Pearce,  it  was  Voted,  that  Messrs. 
Cooley,  S.  H.  Wales,  Elisha  Smith,  Lewis,  Simmons, 
George  H.  Brown,  and  Jencks,  from  the  county  of 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  103 

Providence ;  Daniel  Brown  and  Townsend,  of  the 
county  of  Newport ;  Himes  and  Arnold,  of  the  county 
of  Washington ;  Tillinghast,  Holley,  and  Newman,  of 
the  county  of  Kent ;  and  Bosworth  and  E.  G.  Smith, 
of  the  county  of  Bristol,  be  a  committee  to  count  the 
votes  for  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  secretary  of 
state,  general  treasurer,  attorney  general,  sheriffs,  and 
senators,  and  report  the  result. 

The  towns  and  representative  districts  were  called, 
to  return  the  votes  of  the  electors  for  governor,  &c., 
when  no  returns  were  made  by  the  following  towns : 
Portsmouth,  Hopkinton,  South  Kingstown,  Little  Comp- 
ton,  Middletown,  and  Jamestown.  Said  votes  were  de 
livered  to  the  aforesaid  committee  to  count  and  report. 

The  House  took  a  recess  for  one  hour. 

At  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  speaker  resumed  the 
chair. 

Gilbert  Chace,  Esq.,  a  representative  .from  the  town 
of  Newport,  appeared,  produced  his  credentials,  and 
was  qualified  by  the  speaker. 

Mr.  Simmons,  on  behalf  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  count  the  votes,  made  the  following  report,  which 
was  received. 

HOUSE  or  REPRESENTATIVES,  May  3, 1842. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  counting  of 
the  votes  given  at  the  election  under  the  constitution, 
April  18,  1842,  for  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  sen 
ators,  secretary  of  state,  general  treasurer,  and  attorney 
general,  and  also  the  votes  for  sheriffs  in  the  several 
counties,  respectfully  report,  — 

That  the  whole  number  of  votes  given  in  for  governor 
is  6359 ;  that  of  this  number  6359  were  given  in  for 
Thomas  W.  Dorr,  of  Providence,  and  he  is  therefore 
elected. 

That  the  whole  number  of  votes  given  in  for  lieuten 
ant  governor  is  6361 ;  that  of  this  number  6361  were 


104  THE   LTFE  Atftf  TIMES  GSf 

given  in  for  Amasa  Eddy,  Jr.,  of  Glocester,  and  he  itf 
therefore  elected. 

That  the  whole  number  of  votes  given  in  for  secre 
tary  of  state  is  6360 ;  that  of  this  number  6360  were 
given  in  for  "William  H.  Smith,  of  Providence,  and  he 
is  therefore  elected. 

That  the  whole  number  of  votes  given  in  for  attorney 
general  is  6360  ;  that  of  this  number  6360  were  given 
in  for  Jonah  Titus, "of  Scituate,  and  he  is  therefore 
elected. 

That  the  whole  number  of  votes  given  in  for  general 
treasurer  is  6360 ;  that  of  this  number  Joseph  Joslm7 
of  Newport,  received  6360,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  first  senatorial  district  the  whole  number 
of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  820  ;  that  of  this  num 
ber  820  are  for  Eli  Brown,  of  Providence,  and  he  is 
therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  second  senatorial  district  the  whole  num 
ber  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  1315;  that  of  this- 
number  1315  are  for  Hezekiah  Willard,  of  Providence, 
and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  third  senatorial  district  the  whole  num 
ber  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  652 ;  that  of  this 
number  John  Paine  received  652,  and  is  therefore 
elected. 

That  in  the  fourth  senatorial  district  the  whole 
number  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  907  -9  of  which 
Abner  Haskell  received  907,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  fifth  senatorial  district  the  whole  number 
of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  856 ;  of  which  Solomon 
Smith  received  856,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  sixth  senatorial  district  the  whole  num 
ber  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  648 ;  of  which  648 
are  for  Benjamin  Nichols,  and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  seventh  senatorial  district  the  whole  num 
ber  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  237  j  of  which  237 
are  for  John  Wood,  of  Coventry,  and  he  is  therefore 
elected. 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORK*  105 

That  in  the  eighth  senatorial  district  the  whole  num 
ber  of  votes  given  in  for  senator  is  324  ;  of  which 
Benjamin  Chace  received  324,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  ninth  senatorial  district  119  votes  were 
given  in  for  senator;  of  which  119  are  for  John  B. 
Cook,  and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  tenth  senatorial  district  234  votes  were 
given  in  for  senator ;  of  which  Joseph  Spink  received 
234  votes,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  eleventh  senatorial  district  135  votes  were 
given  in  for  senator ;  of  which  135  were  for  William 
James,  and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  the  twelfth  senatorial  district  210  votes  were 
given  in  for  senator  ;  of  which  Christopher  Smith  re 
ceived  210,  and  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  Providence  county  the  whole  number  of 
votes  given  in  for  sheriff  is  4718 ;  that  of  this  number 
4717  are  for  Burrington  Anthony,  and  he  is  therefore 
elected. 

That  in  Newport  county  the  whole  number  of  votes 
given  in  for  sheriff  is  444  ;  all  for  Joshua  B.  Kathbone, 
and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  Bristol  county  the  whole  number  of  votes 
given  in  for  sheriff  is  210 ;  all  for  Nathan  Bardin,  and 
he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  Kent  county  the  whole  number  of  votes 
given  in  for  sheriff  is  613 ;  all  for  Hazard  Carder,  and 
he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  in  Washington  county  the  whole  number  of 
votes  given  in  for  sheriff  is  307;  all  for  Benjamin 
Blcvin,  and  he  is  therefore  elected. 

That  no  votes  were  received  in  season  to  be  counted 
by  the  committee  from  the  towns  of  Hopkinton,  Little 
Compton,  Jamestown,  New  Shoreham,  and  Portsmouth  ; 
in  the  two  last  towns  votes  were  polled,  but  not  returned 
to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Respectfully  submitted.  FRANKLIN  COOLEY, 

For  the  Committee. 


106  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OP 


* 


Voted,  That  Messrs.  Pearce,  B.  Arnold,  Jr.,  and 
Mawney,  be  a  committee  to  inform  the  governor,  lieu 
tenant  governor,  secretary  of  state,  attorney  general, 
general  treasurer,  and  the  senators  elect,  of  their  elec 
tion,  and  learn  of  them  at  what  time  they  will  be  ready 
to  take  the  oath  of  office. 

Mr.  Pearce,  from  the  committee  appointed  to  inform 
the  general  officers  and  senators  of  their  election,  made 
report :  That  they  had  waited  upon  the  governor,  lieu 
tenant  governor,  secretary  of  state,  attorney  general, 
and  senators  Brown,  Willard,  Haskell,  Paine,  S.  Smith, 
Nichols,  Chace,  James,  and  C.  Smith,  and  that  they  had 
severally  signified  the  acceptance  of  their  respective 
offices,  and  would  immediately  be  engaged  by  oath; 
that  the  general  treasurer  was  not  present,  and  John 
Wood  of  the  seventh  district,  Joseph  Spink  of  the  tenth 
district,  and  John  B.  Cooke  of  the  ninth  district,  were 
not  present,  and  it  is  said  had  declined  to  serve. 

The  governor,  Thomas  "W.  Dorr ;  the  lieutenant  gov 
ernor,  Amasa  Eddy,  Jr.  ;  William  H.  Smith,  secretary 
of  state  ;  Jonah  Titus,  attorney  general,  came  into  the 
House,  and  severally  took  the  oath  prescribed  in  the  con 
stitution,  administered  by  the  speaker  in  the  presence  of 
the  House. 

Eli  Brown,  senator  of  the  first  district ;  Hezekiah 
Willard,  senator  of  the  second  district;  John  Paine, 
senator  of  the  third  district ;  Abner  Haskell,  senator  of 
the  fourth  district ;  Solomon  Smith,  senator  of  the  fifth 
district ;  Benjamin  Nichols,  senator  of  the  sixth  dis 
trict  ;  Benjamin  Chace,  senator  of  the  eighth  district ; 
William  James,  senator  of  the  eleventh  district ;  Chris 
topher  Smith,  senator  of  the  twelfth  district,  severally 
came  into  the  House,  and  took  the  oath  of  office  pre 
scribed  in  the  constitution,  administered  by  the  speaker 
in  the  presence  of  the  governor,  lieutenant  governor, 
and  of  the  House. 

Voted,  That  Messrs.  Simmons  and  Pearce  be  a  com- 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  107 

niittee  to  wait  upon  the  governor,  with  such  others  as 
the  Senate  may  add,  and  inquire  whether  he  has  any 
communication  to  make  to  the  General  Assembly.  The 
vote  came  down  concurred,  with  the  addition  of  Eli 
Brown,  senator  of  the  first  district,  to  said  committee. 

Mr.  Pearce,  from  the  committee  to  ask  the  governor 
if  he  has  any  communication  to  make  to  the  General 
Assembly,  reported  :  That  the  governor  would  forth 
with,  in  person,  meet  the  two  Houses,  and  communicate 
a  message. 

The  two  Houses  having  joined,  the  governor,  in  per 
son,  communicated  his  message. 

The  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  and  Senate  re 
turned  from  the  House.  • 

Mr.  Simmons  offered  a  set  of  rules,  which  were  read 
and  voted  to  be  laid  on  the  table. 

Mr.  Simmons,  of  Providence,  offered  the  following 
resolutions,  to  wit:  — 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  inform 
the  president  of  the  United  States  that  the  government 
of  this  state  has  been  duly  elected  and  organized  under 
the  constitution  of  the  same,  and  that  the  General  As 
sembly  are  now  in  session  and  proceeding  to  discharge 
their  duties  according  to  the  provisions  of  said  constitu 
tion. 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  make 
the  same  communication  to  the  president  of  the  Senate 
and  to  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  to 
be  laid  before  the  two  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  make 
the  same  communication  to  the  governors  of  the  several 
states,  to  be  laid  before  the  respective  legislatures. 

The  resolutions  above  were  read  twice  and  voted 
unanimously,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Pearce  offered  the  following  resolution,  to  wit :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  make 


108  THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

known,  by  proclamation  to  the  people  of  this  state,  that 
the  government  under  the  constitution  thereof  has  been 
duly  organized,  and  calling  upon  all  persons,  both  civil 
and  military,  to  conform  themselves  to  said  constitution 
and  to  the  laws  enacted  under  the  same,  and  to  all  other 
jurisdiction  and  authority  under  and  by  virtue  of  the 
same. 

Kead  twice,  and  voted  to  pass  unanimously,  and  sent 
up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Glocester,  moved  than  when  this 
House  adjourn,  it  will  adjourn  to  meet  at  this  place  at 
nine  o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  the 
sheriff  be  directed  to  prepare  the  state  house  for  the 
reception  of  this  House. 

The  motion,  after  debate,  was  adopted. 

Mr.  Simmons,  of  Providence,  offered  the  following 
act,  to  wit :  — 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows :  — 

The  act   entitled    "An   act  in  relation  to   offences 

against  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state,"  passed  at  the 

March  adjourned  session    of    the   General   Assembly, 

1842,  is  hereby  repealed. 

Read  once  ;  and,  on  the  second  reading,  Mr.  Olney, 
of  Cranston,  moved  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table  until 
to-morrow. 

The  motion  was  negatived  without  a  count. 

The  bill  passed  as  an  act,  and  was  sent  up  for  con 
currence. 

The  secretary  of  state  returned  the  resolutions  voted 
by  this  House  to  inform  the  president,  Congress,  &c., 
of  our  organization,  duly  concurred  in  by  the  Senate 
and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  secretary  of  state  also  returned  a  resolution  voted 
by  this  House  to  request  the  governor  to  issue  his  proc 
lamation,  &c.,  duly  concurred  in  by  the  Senate  and  ap 
proved  by  the  governor. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  109 

The  secretary  of  state  also  returned  the  bill  repealing 
the  act  entitled  "  An  act  in  relation  to  offences  against 
the  sovereign  power  of  the  state,"  duly  concurred  in 
and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  house  adjourned  until  nine   o'clock  to-morrow 

Attest:  J.  S.  HARRIS,  Clerk. 

WEDNESDAY  MORNING,  MAY  4,  1842. 

The  House  met  at  nine  o'clock,  A.  M.  The  speaker 
in  the  chair. 

The  House  is  called  to  order.  The  roll  is  called,  and 
a  quorum  is  present. 

Mr.  Olney,  of  Cranston,  addressed  a  note  to  the 
speaker,  asking  to  be  excused  from  attending  in  his  seat 
to-day,  in  consequence  of  severe  sickness  in  his  family. 

Voted  to  excuse  Mr.  Olney. 

Mr.  Wales,  of  Providence,  offered  the  following  res 
olution,  to  wit :  — 

Resolved,  by  this  General  Assembly,  (the  Senate 
concurring  with  the  House  of  Representatives  therein,) 
That  a  committee  of  be  appointed  to  proceed  to 

Newport,  and  to  request  a  'conference  with  a  similar 
committee  of  the  General  Assembly  now  convened  at 
that  place,  for  the  immediate  and  honorable  adjustment 
of  the  controversy  now  existing  in  this  state. 

This  resolution  was  read ;  and,  after  debate,  was,  on 
motion,  voted  to  be  laid  on  the  table. 

Mr.  Jencks,  of  Cumberland,  offered  a  bill  entitled 
"  An  act  providing  for  the  registration  of  electors,  and 
directing  the  manner  of  voting  by  ballot  in  town  and 
ward  meetings." 

Read ;  and,  on  motion,  it  is  voted  to  take  said  bill 
up. and  pass  upon  it  by  sections. 

The  first  section  is  read,  and  passed  to  be  enacted. 

The  second  section  is  read,  and  passed  to  be  enacted. 
10 


HO  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

The  third  section  is  read,  and  passed  to  be  enacted. 

The  fourth  section  is  read,  amended,  and  passed  to  be 
enacted. 

The  fifth  section  is  read,  amended,  and  passed  to  be 
enacted.  • 

The  sixth' section  is  read,  and  blanks  are  filled,  and 
passed  to  be  enacted. 

The  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  sections  are  read,  and 
passed  to  be  enacted. 

The  bill,  as  engrossed,  passed  to  be  enacted,  and 
sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Glocester,  moved  a  bill  entitled  "  An 
act  to  revive  the  charter  of  Glocester  and  Burrillville 
Greene  Artillery." 

The  above  bill  was  read  twice,  and  passed  to  be 
.enacted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Pearce  presented  a  bill  entitled  "  An  act  to  re 
peal  an  act  entitled  '  An  act  in  amendment  of  an  act 
entitled  An  act  to  prevent  routs,  riots,  and  tumultuous 
assemblies,  and  the  evil  consequences  thereof,'  "  passed 
by  the  General  Assembly  at  their  April  session,  1842. 

Read  twice ;  and,  after  debate,  the  same  passed  to 
be  enacted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Joseph  Joslin,  the  general  treasurer  elect,  came  into 
the  House,  and  having  signified  his  acceptance  of  said 
office,  took  the  oath  in  the  words  and  form  prescribed 
by  the  constitution,  administered  in  the  presence  of  the 
House. 

Voted,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Pearce,  That  Messrs.  Simmons, 
Brown  of  Glocester,  Gavitt,  Cory,  Holley,  and  Bos- 
worth,  be  a  committee  to  report  a  bill  fixing  the  pay  of 
members  of  both  Houses  at  one  dollar  per  day. 

Mr.  Pearce  presented  a  bill  entitled  "  An  act  to  re 
peal  certain  resolutions  passed  by  the  General  Assembly 
at  their  April  session,  1842.*"  The  resolutions  to  .au 
thorize  the  governor  to  preserve  the  public  property,  to 
recall  any  arms  loaned  by  the  General  Assembly,  to 


THOMAS   WILSON   DOER.  Ill 

authorize  the  governor  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  offices  of 
the  militia,  and  the  appointment  of  a  board  of  counsel 
lors,  were  read,  and  passed  to  be  enacted,  and  sent  up 
for  concurrence. 

On  motion,  the  rules  of  the  House  were  taken  up, 
and  being  read  under  each  head,  were  debated,  amend 
ed,  and  passed,  as  they  appear  on  the  files  of  the 
House. 

Mr,  Simmons,  of  Providence,  from  the  committee  on 
the  compensation  of  the  members  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  reports  the  following  bill,  to  wit :  — 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows, 
to  wit:  — 

SECTION  1.  The  several  members  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  shall  hereafter  receive,  as  a 
compensation  for  their  services,  the  sum  of  one  dollar 
for  each  day  in  which  they  shall  be  in  actual  attendance 
during  any  session  of  the  Assembly. 

SEC.  £.  The.  several  members  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives  shall  be  entitled  to  receive 
the  sum  of  ten  cents  per  mile,  each  way,  for  their  travel, 
in  attending  at  each  session. 

The  above  bill  is  read,  debated,  and  passed  to  be 
enacted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Voted,  That  Messrs.  Arnold  of  Providence  county, 
Arnold  of  Washington  county,  Pearce  of  Newport 
county,  Bosworth  of  Bristol  county,  and  Newman  of 
Kent  county,  be  a  committee  to  consider  to  what  time 
it  is  proper  for  the  Assembly  to  adjourn. 

Adjourned  until  two  o'clock,  P.  M. 

J.  S.  HARRIS,  Clerk. 

AFTERNOON   SESSION. 

The  House  met  at  two  o'clock,  P.  M.  The  speaker 
in  the  chair. 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

Upon  a  call  of  the  roll,  a  quorum  is  present. 

Mr.  Gavitt  offered  the  following  joint  resolution,  to 
wit:  — 

Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  (the 
Senate  concurring  herein,)  That  Messrs.  Simmons  of 
Providence,  and  Mowry  of  Smithfield,  be  a  committee 
to  demand,  receive,  and  transfer  the  records,  books,  and 
papers,  appertaining  to  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state, 
and  transfer  the  same  from  Henry  Bowen,  late  secretary 
of  state,  to  his  successor,  William  H.  Smith. 

Voted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

The  committee  on  the  time  to  which  the  legislature 
should  adjourn,  report  by  Mr.  Arnold,  and  recommend 
that  the  General  Assembly  hold  an-  adjourned  session 
on  the  first  Monday  of  July.  Report  accepted  ;  and  it 
is  voted,  that  when  this  General  Assembly  adjourn,  (the 
Senate  concurring  herein,)  it  will  meet  again  on  the 
first  Monday  in  July  next. 

Resolutions  drawn  and  sent  up. 

Mr.  Pearce  offered  the  following  resolutions,  to  wit:  — 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  further  requested  to 
call  on  all  persons  who  are,  or  may  become,  indebted  to 
the  state,  to  make  payment  to  the  duly  appointed  offi 
cers  and  agents,  under  the  provisions  of  said  constitu 
tion  ;  .and  to  make  known  to  all  persons  that  no 
payment  to  any  other  officers  or  agents  than  those 
aforesaid  will  be  considered  as  a  discharge  of  their 
obligations. 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  call  on 
all  persons  who  are  in  possession,  or  have  charge  of 
any  of  the  public  property,  to  deliver  the  possession  or 
charge  of  said  property  to  the  authorities  and  officers 
acting  under  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  state. 

Read  and  passed,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

The  act  repealing  the  amendment  to  the  riot  act, 
passed  this  morning,  came  down  concurred  in  by  the 
Senate,  and  approved  by  the  governor. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  113 

The  act  providing  for  the  registration,  &c.,  of  voters, 
came  down  with  an  amendment,  changing  the  time, 
&c.,  of  registry. 

Voted  to  concur  with  the  Senate  in  the  amendment. 

On  motion,  it  is  voted  that  the  two  Houses  join  in 
committee  to  proceed  upon  the  election  of  officers. 

Mr.  Brown,  of  Glocester,  moved  the  following  bill, 
to  wit:  — 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows: — 

SECTION  1.  If  any  person  or  persons,  or  body  corpo 
rate,  from  whom  any  sum  or  sums  of  money  may  be 
come  due  and  payable  to  the  general  treasurer  of  this 
state,  elected  under  the  provisions  of  the  constitution 
of  this  state,  as  adopted  by  the  people  thereof,  accord 
ing  to  the  provisions  of  the  act  to  which  this  is  in 
addition,  or  of  other  acts  in  addition  or  amendment 
to  the  same,  should  refuse  or  neglect  to  pay  said  sum  or 
sums  of  money  as  by  law  directed,  he  or  they  so  refus 
ing  and  neglecting  shall  be  liable  to  pay  interest  for 
the  retainer  of  such  sum  or  sums  of  money,  at  and 
after  the  rate  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  amount  due  for 
each  month's  neglect  and  refusal  as  aforesaid. 

SEC.  £.  If  any  person  or  persons,  or  body  corporate, 
holding  in  their  possession  any  other  money  or  property 
whatsoever  belonging  to  the  state,  shall  refuse  to  pay 
over  and  deliver  the  same  to  any  officer  or  agent  of  the 
state  duly  authorized  to  receive  the  same,  after  being 
duly  required  hereto,  he  or  they  so  refusing  shall  be 
liable  to  be  sued  therefor  in  any  court  of  competent 
jurisdiction,  in  the  name  of  the  general  treasurer  afore 
said  ;  and  on  rendition  of  judgment  in  any  such  case 
against  the  defendant  or  defendants,  the  court  before 
whom  such  judgment  may  be  rendered  shall  assess  dam 
ages  thereon  at  double  the  amount  of  the  money  or 
value  of  the  property  found  due,  with  costs. 

Head,  and  passed  to  be  enacted,  and  sent  up  for  con 
currence. 

10* 


114  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF 

The  act  reviving  the  charter  of  the  Greene  Artillery, 
came  down  concurred,  and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  act  repealing  the  act  establishing  volunteer 
police  companies  in  Providence,  came  down  concurred, 
and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  act  repealing  certain  resolutions  passed  in  April 
last,  investing  the  governor  with  great  power,  and  ap 
pointing  his  council,  came  down  concurred,  and  ap 
proved  by  the  governor. 

The  two  Houses  having  joined,  on  motion,  his  honor 
the  lieutenant  governor  was  called  to  preside. 

The  elections  of  all  civil  officers  were  postponed  until 
the  next  session  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Several  military  officers  were  appointed,  the  record  of 
which  will  appear  on  the  secretary's  minutes.  The  two- 
Houses  separated. 

The  act  submitted  to  enable  the  governor  to  appoint 
and  commission  officers,  and  to  organize  the  militia, 
was  taken  up,  debated,  and  committed  to  Mr.  Brown  of 
Glocester. 

Mr.  Brown  made  report,  that  the  act  referred  to  him, 
giving  the  governor  certain  power  in  appointing  and 
organizing  the  militia,  is  unconstitutional,  and  asks  to 
be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of  the 
pame. 

Voted  to  discharge  the  committee,  and  the  act  is  laid 
on  the  table.  ,  • 

Mr.  Brown  offered  the  following  resolution,  to  wit :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  are  due  to 
their  constituents,  civil  and  military,  for  the  zeal  they 
have  displayed,  and  efficient  aid  rendered,  in  assisting 
this  General  Assembly  in  organizing*  the  government 
under  the  constitution.  Voted  unanimously. 

Mr.  Simmons  offered  a  resolution  authorizing  the  gov 
ernor  to  send  commissioners  to  Washington,  to  make 
known  to  the  president  our  position,  &c.  Voted  that 
the  same  be  laid  upon  the  table. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  115 

Mr.  Simmons  moved  the  following  resolution,  viz. :  — 

Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  (the  Sen 
ate  concurring  herein,)  That  Messrs.  Pearce  and  Chace 
be  a  committee  to  demand,  receive,  and  transfer  all  the 
moneys,  bonds,  securities,  records,  books,  and  papers, 
and  every  other  article  appertaining  to  the  office  of  the 
general  treasurer  of  this  state,  from  Stephen  Cahoone, 
late  treasurer,  to  Joseph  Joslin,  his  successor. 

Voted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Wales  moved  the  following  act,  to  wit :  — 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows  :  — 
SECTION  1.  The  charter  of  the  United  Independent 
Company  of  Volunteers,  of  the  city  of  Providence,  is 
so  amended  as  that  said  company  is  authorized  to 
receive  and  enrol  additional  members  to  the  number  of 
two  hundred,  exclusive  of  commissioned  officers. 

Voted  to  be  enacted,  and  sent  to  the  Senate  for  con 
currence. 

Voted  that  the  House  take  a  recess  for  one  hour,  it 
being  now  5  o'clock,  P.  M. 

At  6  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  House  reassembled. 

The  speaker  and  a  quorum  present. 

The  act  authorizing  the  volunteer  company  to  increase 
the  number  of  their  men,  came  down  concurred,  and 
approved  by  the  governor.  % 

The  resolutions  transferring  the  effects  of  the  offices 
of  the  late  secretary  of  state  and  general  treasurer,  came 
down  concurred,  and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  act  to  collect  the  revenue,  and  secure  the  pay 
ment  to,  and  the  possession  of  the  state's  property,  and 
the  consequences  and  liability  in  paying  and  delivering 
the  same  to  officers  under  the  constitution,  came  down, 
concurred,  and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  act  relating  to  the  pay  and  travel  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  General  Assembly,  came  down  concurred, 
and  approved  by  the  governor. 


116  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

The  act  relating  to  the  duties  of  those  indebted  to 
the  state,  (marked  No.  1,)  came  down  concurred,  and 
approved  by  the  governor. 

The  resolution  to  adjourn  until  the  first  Monday  in 
July  next,  came  down  concurred. 

Mr.  Taber,  of  Smithfield,  moved  the  following  bill :  — 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows  :  — 

SECTION  1.  In  all  elections  of  the  captains  and  subal 
terns  of  militia  companies,  at  their  annual  elections,  the 
elections  shall  be  made  by  the  members  of  said  compa 
nies  delivering  their  votes,  with  the  name  of  the  person 
voted  for  thereon,  to  the  officer  of  the  company  in  com 
mand  on  the  day  of  election ;  and  all  companies  who 
may  have  neglected  to  choose  their  officers  at  their  last 
annual  election,  may  proceed  to  choose  the  same  as 
aforesaid,  on  any  day  before  the  next  annual  election. 

SEC.  2.  The  chartered  military  companies  who 
have  not  made  their  returns,  may  make  the  same  at  any 
time  previous  to  the  next  adjourned  session  of  this 
Assembly. 

SEC.  3.  The  governor  is  hereby  authorized  to  com 
mission  the  officers  chosen  by  volunteer  companies  in 
this  state  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year  from  this 
time. 

Voted  to  be  enacted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Simmons,  of  Providence,  moved  the  following 
resolution,  viz.  :  — 

Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  (the  Sen 
ate  concurring  therein,)  That  the  governor  be  author 
ized  to  appoint  suitable  persons  as  commissioners  in 
behalf  of  this  state,  to  proceed  to  Washington,  to  make 
known  to  the  president  of  the  United  States,  that  the 
people  of  this  state  have  formed  a  written  constitution, 
and  elected  officers,  and  peaceably  organized  a  govern 
ment  under  the  same,  and  that  said  government  is  now 
in  full  operation. 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  117 

Voted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  C.  Smith,  a  member  from  Barrington, 
sent  to  the  speaker  his  resignation. 

Voted,  That  the  same  be  accepted,  and  that  the 
speaker  issue  his  warrant  to  the  electors  of  said  town, 
requiring  them  to  elect  another  representative  in  his 
place. 

George  Niles,  a  member  from  Richmond,  resigned 
his  seat. 

Voted,  That  the  same  be  accepted,  and  that  the 
speaker  issue  his  warrant  to  the  electors  of  said  town, 
requiring  them  to  elect  another  representative  in  his 
place. 

Voted,  That  the  clerks  be  directed  to  make  out  cer 
tificates  of  attendance  for  the  pay  of  each  member, 
according  to  the  act  of  this  session ;  and  to  deliver  the 
same  to  them  respectively. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Pearce,  Mr.  Simmons  was  appointed 
a  committee  to  wait  upon  the  governor,  and  inform  him 
that  this  House  is  ready  to  adjourn  if  he  has  no  further 
communications  to  make  to  them. 

Mr.  Simmons,  the  committee  appointed  to  wait  upon 
the  governor,  made  report  that  he  had  performed  that 
duty,  and  that  the  governor  had  nothing  further  to 
communicate. 

The  act  relating  to  the  election  of  military  officers,  to 
commissioning  the  same,  and  to  charter  companies, 
came  down  concurred,  and  approved  by  the  governor. 

The  resolution  appointing  commissioners  to  proceed 
to  Washington,  came  down  concurred,  and  approved  by 
the  governor. 

Voted,  That  John  S.  Harris  be  allowed,  and  paid  out 
of  the  treasury,  for  his  services  as  clerk  this  session,  six 
dollars. 

Voted,  That  Levi  Salisbury  be  allowed,  and  paid  out 
of  the  treasury,  for  his  services  as  clerk  this  session,  six 
dollars. 


118  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OP 

Voted,  That  Burrington  Anthony  be  allowed,  and 
paid  out  of  the  treasury,  for  attendance  as  sheriff,  and 
other  expenses  this  session,  the  sum  of  five  dollars  and 
fifty  cents. 

.  Voted,  That  Seth  Howard  be  allowed,  and  paid  out 
of  the  treasury,  for  attendance  of  himself  and  other  offi 
cers  at  this  session,  the  sum  of  ten  dollars. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Newman,  of  Warwick,  it  is  unani 
mously  Voted,  That  the  thanks  of  this  House  be  pre 
sented  to  the  Speaker  for  the  able,  dignified,  and 
impartial  manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over  its 
deliberations. 

Voted  and  resolved,  That  all  officers  not  reflected, 
and  in  whose  places  others  have  not  been  appointed, 
be,  and  they  are  hereby,  continued  in  their  respective 
offices  until  the  adjourned  session  of  this  General  As 
sembly,  to  be  holden  at  Providence  on  the  first  Monday 
in  July,  1842,  with  as  full  power  and  authority  as  they 
have  at  any  time  had. 

Voted  and  resolved,  That  all  business  lying  before 
this  Assembly  unfinished,  be  referred  to  the  adjourned 
session  to  be  holden  on  the  first  Monday  in  July,  1842  ; 
that  the  secretary  cause  the  acts,  orders,  and  resolutions 
passed  at  this  session,  to  be  published,  with  a  suitable 
index,  and  distributed  according  to  law ;  and  that  this 
Assembly  be,  and  the  saine  is  hereby,  adjourned  to  the 
first  Monday  in  July,  1842,  then  to  convene  in  the  city 
of  Providence. 

Voted  to  be  enacted,  and  sent  up  for  concurrence. 

The  vote  of  adjournment  came  down  concurred ;  and 
thereupon,  the  speaker  infortaied  the  House  that  they 
were  adjourned  accordingly. 

Attest:  J.  S.  HARRIS,  Clerk. 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  119 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  RIGHT  OF  THE  CHARTER  GOVERNMENT  TO  HOLD 
OUT  AGAINST  THE  PEOPLE  CONSIDERED.  CAUSES  OF 
COMPLAINT  SET  FORTH,  ETC.  CONFIDENTIAL  LETTER 
FROM  PRESIDENT  TYLER. 

IT  has  already  been  shown  that  on  the  3d  of  May, 
1842,  there  were  two  organized  political  governments 
in  Rhode  Island,  each  claiming  the  exclusive  right  to 
the  exercise  of  legislative  functions ;  they  could  not 
both  be  right.  One  claimed  under  an  exploded  British 
charter,  which  the  people  had  never  adopted,  and  which 
no  free,  intelligent  people  ever  would  adopt ;  the  gov 
ernment  under  which  had  been  held  by  sufferance  after 
the  royal  parchment  had  become  a  dead  letter.  The 
other  claimed  to  derive  its  authority  directly  from  the 
people.  A  very  large  majority  of  the  whole  people 
had,  in  the  exercise  of  their  inalienable  sovereignty, 
conferred  upon  the  latter  legislative  powers,  and  by  the 
same  act  had  forever  abrogated  and  withdrawn  all 
authority  from  the  former.  Under  the  charter  th,e 
whole  government  of  Rhode  Island  expired  and  was 
renewed  every  year,  and  the  duties  and  powers  of  all 
officers,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  ceased  and 
terminated  at  the  end  of  every  year,  if  they  were  not 


120  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF 

reflected,  and  the  government  under  the  people's  con 
stitution  was  intended  to  commence  at  the  time  the  old 
government  expired  by  its  own  limitation.  The  charter 
legislature  was  nothing  more  than  a  tenant  at  will. 
This  being  the  case,  it  follows  of  course  that  the  gov 
ernment  which  had  been  set  up  by  the  people  them 
selves  had  an  undoubted  right  to  make  use  of  all 
necessary  means  to  sustain  itself.  The  people  had 
committed  their  political  interests  to  this  new  legisla 
ture,  and  it  had  become  the  duty  of  that  legislature  to 
protect  and  defend  them.  This  each  member  of  that 
legislature  had  sworn  to  do ;  therefore  if  any  govern 
ment  ever  had  a  right  to  defend  and  sustain  itself  by 
physical  power,  the  people's  legislature  had  that  right, 
and  must  stand  perfectly  justified  in  the  use  of  any 
measures  necessary  for  that  purpose.  The  question  is 
simply  this,  Was  the  people's  government  set  up  upon 
the  true  principles  of  American  democracy  ?  The  ad 
vocates  for  the  charter  government  have  told  us  that 
the  people  had  no  right  to  set  up  a  government  or  to 
take  any  measures  for  that  purpose  without  permission 
from  the  General  Assembly.  We  have  seen  that  four 
teen  thousand  out  of  twenty  thousand  gave  their  votes 
for  the  constitution  under  which  the  people's  govern 
ment  was  organized ;  but  we  are  told  that  that  is  of  no 
consequence  so  long  as  the  legislature  did  not  give  the 
people  a  license  to  proceed  in  the  manner  they  did,  and 
that  therefore  the  old  government  must  be  considered 
as  the  rightful  government  until  the  General  Assembly 
should  authorize  the  people  to  set  up  a  different  form 
of  government.  Now  if  a  government  which  had  been 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR. 

set  up  by  three  fourths  of  the  people  was  illegal  and 
void  because  the  legislature  refused  to  sanction  it,  then 
if  every  man  in  the  state,  except  the  eighty-four  who 
composed  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  in  1841,  had  voted  for  the  people's  constitution 
and  agreed  to  support  it,  it  would  still  have  been  just  as 
illegal,  and  the  eighty-four  men  who  composed  that 
legislature  might  just  as  rightfully  have  declared  the 
whole  proceedings  of  the  people  void,  and  still  claimed 
their  right  to  rule  the  state,  and  have  called  upon  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  or  any  foreign  power,  to 
sustain  them  ;  and  if,  by  means  of  menaces  from  abroad, 
and  concessions  and  promises  at  home,  that  body  found 
themselves  able  to  subdue  the  people,  they  would  main 
tain  their  power  by  the  same  right  that  the  charter  gov 
ernment  was  maintained  in  1843.  If  three  fourths  of 
the  people  could  not  rightfully  set  up  a  government 
without  the  consent  of  the  legislature,  then  all  the  peo 
ple  could  not.  It  was  upon  that  ground  alone  that  the 
charter  government  held  on  to  power  in  1842 ;  and  we 
ask  if  there  is  a  single  unprejudiced  individual  living 
under  the  democratic  institutions  of  the  United  States, 
who  has  any  claim  to  common  sense,  who  agrees  to  that 
doctrine  ?  But  we  are  told  that  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  government 
under  the  charter.  Has  it  not  been  shown  that  more 
than  half  of  the  male  citizens  of  that  state  over  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  were  by  law  excluded  from  all  partici 
pation  in  the  affairs  of  the  government,  whilst  at  the 
same  time  they  were  required  by  la\t  to  do  duty  in  mil 
itary  and  fire  companies,  and  also  to  pay  their  full  pro- 
11 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

portion  of  all  public  taxes  ?  Has  it  not  been  shown 
also  that  the  laws  of  that  state  gave  non-freeholders  no 
remedy  against  any  wrongs  that  they  might  sustain  un 
less  they  obtained  the  assistance  of  freeholders?  Has 
it  not  been  shown  that  they  were  denied  the  right  of 
trial  by  a  jury  of  their  peers  ? 

If  they  were  satisfied  to  be  thus  disparaged  and  out 
lawed,  why  did  they  petition  the  legislature,  time  after 
time,  during  almost  half  a  century  ?  What  was  meant 
by  the  petition  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  in 
1829,  signed  by  two  thousand  citizens  ?  What  meant 
the  suffrage  organizations  throughout  the  state  in  1838 
and  1839?  What  brought  together  the  .immense  mass 
meetings  in  the  summer  of  1841  ?  For  what  purpose 
did  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men  meet  in  convention  in 
the  city  of  Providence  ?  What  did  these  people  mean 
by  their  loud  complaints  against  the  oppressive  acts  of 
the  charter  government,  and  what  did  their  strong  reso 
lutions  declare? 

Is  it  not  true  that  "  all  experience  hath  shown  that 
mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while  evils  are 
sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves  by  abolishing  the 
forms  to  which  they  are  accustomed  "  ?  And  might 
not  the  disfranchised  citizens  of  Rhode  Island  have  said, 
in  the  language  of  their  revolutionary  fathers,  "  In 
every  stage  of  these  oppressions  we  have  petitioned  for 
redress  in  the  most  humble  terms  ;  our  repeated  peti 
tions  have  been  answered  only  by  repeated  injury." 

Although  the  president  was  over-persuaded  and  mis 
advised,  yet  the  following  "  private  and  confidential " 
letter  to  Governor  King,  dated  May  9,  1842,  shows 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR. 


that  he  was   desirous  that  the  controversy  should  be 
amicably  settled  by  the  parties  themselves. 

May  9,  1842. 

SIR  :  Messrs.  Randolph  and  Potter  will  hand  you  an 
official  letter  ;  but  I  think  it  important  that  you  should 
be  informed  of  my  views  and  opinions  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  settling  all  difficulties.  I  deprecate  the  use  of 
force,  except  in  the  last  resort  ;  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  measures  of  conciliation  will  at  once  operate  to 
produce  quiet.  I  am  well  advised,  if  the  General  As 
sembly  would  authorize  you  to  announce  a  general  am 
nesty  and  pardon  for  the  past,  without  making  any 
exception,  upon  the  condition  of  a  return  to  allegiance, 
and  follow  it  up  by  a  call  for  a  new  convention  upon 
somewhat  liberal  principles,  that  all  difficulty  would  at 
once  cease.  And  why  should  not  this  be  done  ?  A 
government  never  loses  any  thing  by  mildness  and  for 
bearance  to  its  own  citizens  ;  more  especially  when  the 
consequences  of  an  opposite  course  may  be  the  shedding 
of  blood.  In  your  case,  the  one  half  of  your  people 
are  involved  in  the  consequences  of  recent  proceedings.  . 
Why  urge  matters  to  an  extremity  ?  If  you  succeed  by 
the  bayonet,  you  succeed  against  your  own  fellow-citi 
zens,  and  by  the  shedding  of  kindred  blood  ;  whereas, 
by  taking  the  opposite  course,  you  will  have  shown  a 
paternal  care  for  the  lives  of  your  people.  My  own 
opinion  is,  that  the  adoption  of  the  above  measures  will 
give  you  peace,  and  insure  you  harmony.  A  resort  to 
force,  on  the  contrary,  will  engender,  for  years  to  come, 
feelings  of  animosity. 

I  have  said  that  I  speak  advisedly.  Try  the  exper 
iment  ;  and  if  it  fail,  then  your  justification  in  using. 
force  becomes  complete* 

Excuse  the  freedom  I  take,  and  be  assured  of  my 
respect.  JOHN  TYLER. 

GOVERNOR  KING,  of  Rhode  Island. 


THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

But  the  charter  authorities,  elated  with  the  idea  of 
putting  down  the  suffrage  party  by  force  of  arms,  were 
not  inclined  to  make  any  concessions  or  adopt  any  con 
ciliatory  measures,  and  the  president's  advice  was  dis 
regarded. 


THOMAS   WILSOK   DOBB. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

MR.  DORR'S  VISIT    TO    WASHINGTON    AND   NEW 

HIS    RETURN    TO   PROVIDENCE.      ATTACK  UPON  THE 

ARSENAL. 

IMMEDIATELY  after  the  adjournment  of  the  constitu 
tional  legislature,  Mr.  Dorr  proceeded  to  Washington, 
and  laid  his  case  before  the  chief  magistrate  and  heads 
of  the  departments.  But  he  soon  found,  to  his  mortifi 
cation,  that  the  administration  had  become  strongly  pre 
judiced  against  him  in  consequence  of  misrepresenta 
tions  which  had  been  made  by  the  envoys  of  the  charter 
government. 

Southern  men  had  become  imbittered  against  him 
and  his  cause  by  being  told  that  it  was  wholly  an  anti- 
slavery  movement.  This  was  false ;  not  a  particle  of 
abolitionism  was  mingled  in  the  controversy.  At  home 
the  vilest  slanders  and  most  egregious  falsehoods  were 
conjured  up  and  put  in  circulation  by  the  obsequious 
minions  of  power ;  the  desk  and  the  forum  assisted  to 
give  them  currency,  and  they  were  echoed  and  reechoed 
from  high  places.  At  one  time  it  was  rumored  that 
Mr.  Dorr  was  coming  with  murderous  legions  from 
abroad,  and  at  another  that  he  and  his  men  intended  to 
rob^  all  the  banks  in  the  state,  to  pillage  and  burn  the 
city  of  Providence,  and  ravish  its  fair  inhabitants. 
11* 


126         '  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

Such  reports  were  not  only  entirely  without  foundation, 
but  so  extremely  absurd  and  improbable,  that  no  honest 
man  ought  to  have  given  them  currency.  Again,  to 
pacify  the  people,  they  were  told  that  the  government 
had  consented  to  accede  to  their  demands,  and  would, 
as  soon  as  possible,  give  them  a  legal  constitution,  with 
free  suffrage,  and  about  every  thing  else  they  asked  for. 
On  his,  return  from  Washington,  Mr.  Dorr  was  re 
ceived  in  the  city  of  New  York  with  strong  demonstra 
tions  of  respect  and  confidence,  and  was  assured  that,  if 
the  president  should  oppose  him  with  the  national 
soldiery,  that  city  would  furnish  troops  enough  to 
withstand  all  that  the  general  government  might  send. 
Returning  home,  Mr.  Dorr  arrived  at  Stonington  on 
Sunday  morning,  the  15th  of  May.  As  soon  as  it  was 
known  that  he  was  at  Stonington,  a  large  party  of  citi 
zens,  with  about  thirty  men  under  arms,  proceeded  to 
that  place  to  greet  him  and  renew  their  assurances  of 
fidelity.  On  his  arrival  in  Providence,  he  was  met  by 
a  large  escort  of  military  and  private  citizens ;  a  splen 
did  barouche  drawn  by  four  fine  white  horses  had  been 
prepared  for  his  reception,  and  as  the  procession  moved 
through  the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  shouts  of  wel 
come  were  heard  on  all  sides.  The  pageant  appeared 
more  like  the  triumphant  entry  of  a  victor  than  that 
of  a  returning  exile.  The  multitude  thronged  about 
his  person  to  greet  and  encourage  him,  and  renew  again 
and  again  their  promises  of  fidelity.  But  alas !  many 
of  these  promises  were  hollow  and  false,  and  made  by 
irresolute,  fickle-minded  men,  who  did  not  know  theni- 
sclves ;  and  Mr.  Dorr  was  destined  soon  to  witness 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  127 

scenes  of  an  opposite  character.  During  his  absence,  a 
large  number  of  arrests  were  made  under  what  was 
denominated  the  Algerine  laws.  Alarmed  and  disheart 
ened,  nearly  all  the  members  of  his  legislatures  who  had 
not  been  arrested,  soon  resigned. 

These  resignations  fell  upon  the  ears  of  Mr.  Dorr 
like  the  rumblings  of  an  earthquake.  No  language 
can  describe  the  emotions  of  his  heart,  when,  in  that 
critical  moment,  he  sa'w  the  pillars  upon  which  he  had 
rested  for  support  shaken  and  falling  thick  around  him. 
It  required  the  firmness  of  a  Cato  to  withstand  the 
shock.  But  relying  on  the  justice  of  his  cause  and  the 
rectitude  of  his  own  intentions,  and  still  confiding  too 
much,  far  too  much,  in  the  integrity  and  fidelity  of  the 
people,  he  never  faltered  for  a  moment ;  whatever  his 
reason  and  his  conscience  told  him  was  right  he  would 
do  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  and  whatever  was  wrong 
he  would  not  do.  Call  this  obstinacy,  or  wilfulness,  or 
by  whatever  name  you  please,  it  is  nevertheless  the 
most  prominent  trait  in  the  character  of  every  truly 
great  man.  It  required  no  ordinary  heroism  to  sustain 
the  mind  under  reverses  like  these.  He  that  could 
remain  •firm  and  unmoved,  self -poised  and  self-sustained, 
in  a  crisis  like  this,  must  possess  a  transcendent  moral 
magnanimity. 

During  Mr.  Dorr's  absence,  the  charter  authorities 
were  busily  occupied  in  making  preparations  to  resist, 
by  force  of  arms,  the  constitutional  government.  Mili 
tary  companies  were  reorganized,  filled  up,  and  drilled, 
and  required  to  be  in  readiness  to  obey  any  orders 
\fhich  might  be  given  them.  It  had  become  apparent 


128  Tii£  LIFE  AND  TIMES  o& 

to  every  one  that  the  existing  political  controversy 
would  never  be  settled  without  a  resort  to  arms.  When 
Mr.  Dorr  became  advised  of  the  notes  of  preparation  in 
progress  against  him,  he  saw  that  a  crisis  had  arrived 
when  decisive  measures  must  be  taken.  The  state 
arsenal,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city,  was  an  object  of  indis 
pensable  importance ;  this  was  a  strong  stone  building, 
containing,  at  that  time,  six  or  eight  pieces  of  ordnance, 
with  a  great  part  of  the  muskets  and  ammunition  be 
longing  to  the  state.  An  additional  guard  had  recently 
been  placed  within  it,  of  which  Mr.  Dorr  had  not  been 
advised ;  but  he  saw  at  once  that  he  must  gain  posses 
sion  of  that,  or  abandon  his  position  immediately.  This 
was  a  most  trying  moment.  A  large  number  of  those 
men  upon  whose  courage  and  counsel  he  had  depended 
had  left  him  and  retired.  The  whole  responsibility  of 
a  cause  which  fourteen  thousand  men  had  instituted,  was 
now  thrown  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  single  individual. 
He  must  give  up  the  cause,  and  retire  m  disgrace,  or 
make  an  attempt  to  take  possession  of  the  arsenal.  The 
hearty  greetings  and  imposing  demonstrations  with 
which  he  had  been  met  on  his  return  to  the  city  seemed 
to  give  him  assurance  that  the  people  were  determined 
to  sustain  him.  Who  could  have  witnessed  the  long 
procession  of  men,  both  armed  and  unarmed,  that  escort 
ed  him  through  the  city  the  'day  before,  and  heard  their 
cheerful  greetings  and  repeated  assurances  of  fidelity, 
and  not  have  believed  that  any  assistance  which  he 
might  require  would  be  forthcoming  at  the  first  call  ? 
He  could  not  and  he  would  not  cease  to  confide  in  the 
integrity  of  his  friends.  On  the  morning  of  the  17tt 


THOMAS  WILSON    DORK, 

of  May,  Mr.  Dorr  issued  his  orders  to  the  military  of 
the  several  towns  to  repair  forthwith  to  head  quarters 
and  wait  further  orders.  That  call  met  with  but  a  very 
imperfect  response,  and  many  who  did  obey  it  departed 
before  evening.  At  one  of  the  clock  on  Wednesday 
morning,  May  18th,  the  signal  for  an  attack  upon  the 
arsenal  was  given  by  the  firing  of  an  alarm  gun.  After 
nearly  an  hour's  delay,  Mr.  Dorr  found  that  only  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men  waited  his  command.  At  the 
head  of  that  little  band>  armed  with  muskets  and  two 
pieces  of  artillery  ^  he  marched  on  foot,  stationed  his 
forces  in  front  of  the  arsenal,  and  summoned  its  com 
mander  to  surrender.  The  summons  was  returned  with 
an  indignant  refusal.  The  night  was  so  extremely  dark 
that  it  was  difficult  for  friends  and  foes  to  distinguish 
each  other,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  Mr.  Dorr's  two 
pieces  of  artillery  had  been  rendered  inefficient  by  un 
seen  hands,  and  he  and  his  small  force  returned  to  head 
quarters  without  firing  a  single  gun.  When  morning' 
came,  and  it  was  satisfactorily  ascertained  that  Mr. 
Dorr's  forces  had  dispersed,  several  companies  of  mili 
tia,  armed  with  muskets  and  field  pieces,  marched  boldly 
up  to  his  head  quarters  :  but  before  their  arrival  Mr* 
Dorr  left  in  company  with  a  friend,  and  fortunately 
escaped  the  grasp  of  his  enemies.  Thus  ended  a  blood 
less  tragedy,  which  had  caused  the  city  of  Providence 
dire  forebodings.  This  transaction  has  been  the  sub 
ject  of  animadversion  and  ridicule,  and  Mr.  Dorr's  con 
duct  looked  upon  as  the  feat  of  a  maniac.  But  it 
should  be  recollected  that  it  is  much  easier  to  find  fault 
than  to  command  a  burning  steamer,  Mr.  Dorr,  by  the 


ISO  THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

resignation  and  desertion  of  his  men,  had  been  unex 
pectedly  forced  into  the  perilous  position  which  he 
occupied ;  he  made  no  pretensions  to  military  knowl 
edge  or  skill,  but  a  tremendous  responsibility  was 
thrown  upon  him,  and  he  was  not  the  man  to  shrink 
from  it ;  and  if  he  did  not  display  the  wisdom  and  acu 
men  of  a  veteran  officer  no  one  need  be  surprised.  It 
is  easy  now  to  see  that  the  attack  upon  the  arsenal  was 
injudicious ;  but  this  point  is  more  easily  decided  now 
than  it  could  have  been  at  that  moment.  Mr.  Dorr 
was  not  aware  of  the  defection  which  was  rapidly  tak 
ing  place  in  the  suffrage  ranks ;  he  had  an  overweening 
confidence  in  the  integrity  and  fidelity  of  mankind ;  he 
had  not  yet  learned  by  his  own  sad  experience  that 
"  all  men  are  liars."  He  was  not  aware  of  the  power 
of  the  arsenal  to  resist  attacks.  He  did  not  stop  to 
consider  the  force  which  the  charter  government  could 
almost  instantly  bring  against  him.  But  ne  vainly 
imagined  that  a  large  portion  of  all  the  military  of  the 
state  would  rally  around  his  standard  at  the  first  call. 
Yet  when  the  signal  was  given  and  the  demand  made, 
like  the  "  spirits  of  the  vasty  deep,"  they  were  called, 
but  did  not  come. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  131 


CHAPTER    IX. 

MARTIAL  LAW.  GOV.  KING*S  PROCLAMATION.  GOV. 
DORR'S  RETURN  AND  PROCLAMATIONS.  OUTRAGES 
COMMITTED  UNDER  THE  PRETEXT  OF  MARTIAL  LAW. 

DURING  the  absence  of  Mr.  Dorr,  after  the  18th  of 
May,  and  while  he  was  supposed  to  be  residing  under 
the  protection  of  his  friend  Chauncy  F.  Cleveland,  then 
governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  Gov.  King  issued 
the  following  proclamation  :  — 

By  His  Excellency  SAMUEL  WARD  KING,  Governor, 
Captain  General,  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations. 
"Whereas  THOMAS  WILSON  DORR,  of  Providence,  in  the 
county  of  Providence,  charged  with  treason  against  the 
said  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations, 
is  a  fugitive  from  justice,  and  supposed  to  be  now  within 
the  limits  of  our  sister  State  of  Connecticut ;  and  from 
credible  information,  is  still  pursuing  his  nefarious  en 
terprise,  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  said  State  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations ;  and  where 
as  I  made  a  requisition,  on  the  25th  day  of  May  last, 
addressed  to  his  excellency  Chauncy  F.  Cleveland, 
governor  of  said  State  of  Connecticut,  for  the  appre 
hension  and  delivery  of  the  said  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr, 
according  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States  in  such  case  made  and  provided ;  which  rcqui- 


THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES    OP 

sition  hia  excellency  Chauncy  F.  Cleveland,  governor 
of  said  state,  has  hitherto  declined  to  comply  with ;  — 
I  do,  therefore,  pursuant  to  authority  in  me  vested? 
and  by  advice  of  the  Council,  hereby  offer  a  reward  of 
one  thousand  dollars  for  the  delivery  of  the  said  Thomas 
Wilson  Dorr  to  the  proper  civil  authority  of  this  state, 
within  one  year  from  the  date  hereof,  that  he  may  be 
dealt  with  as  to  law  and  justice  shall  appertain. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  the  seal  of  said  state  at 
the  city  of  Providence,  this  eighth  day  of  June, 
[L.  s.]    in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  forty-two,  and  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  sixty-sixth. 
SAMUEL  WARD  KING. 
By  his  Excellency's  command : 

HENRY  BOWEN,  Sec'y  of  State. 

But  this  proclamation  had  no  effect,  and  Mr.  Dorr 
fearlessly  returned  to  the  state  on  the  25th  of  June, 
and  issued  the  following  proclamation  :  -— 

STATE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND    AND    PROVIDENCE  PLAN 
TATIONS. 

A  Proclamation,  by  the  Governor  of  the  same. 

By  virtue  of  the  authority  vested  in  me  by  the  con 
stitution,  I  hereby  convene  the  General  Assembly  which 
was  adjourned  to  meet  at  Providence  on  Monday,  the 
4th  of  July  next,  at  the  town  of  Glocester,  on  the  same 
day,  for  the  transaction  of  such  business  as  may  come 
before  them. 

And  I  hereby  request  the  towns  and  districts,  in 
which  vacancies  may  have  occurred  by  the  resignation 
of  representatives  or  senators,  to  proceed  forthwith  to 
supply  the  same  by  new  elections,  according  to  the  pro 
visions  of  the  constitution. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  133 

Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  of  state,  at  Glocester, 
the  25th  day  of  June,  A.  D.  1842. 

THOMAS  W.  DORR. 

On  the  same  day,  June  25,  1842,  the  charter  Gen 
eral  Assembly,  then  in  session  at  Newport,  passed 
the  following  act  declaring  the  state  unjder  martial 
law:  — 

An  Act  establishing  Martial  Law  in  this  State. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  as  follows  :  — 
SECTION  1.  The  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Provi 
dence  Plantations  is  hereby  placed  under  martial  law ; 
and  the  same  is  declared  to  be  in  full  force  until  other 
wise  ordered  by  the  General  Assembly,  or  suspended 
by  proclamation  of  his  excellency  the  governor  of  the 
state. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
r        -I     and  affixed  the   seal  of  said  state,  at  Provi- 
J     dence,  the  day  and  year  above  written. 

SAMUEL  WARD  KING. 
By  his  Excellency's  command  : 

HENRY  BOWEN,  Sec'y  of  State. 

And  about  the  same  time  Mr.  Dorr  issued  the  fol 
lowing  proclamation  :  — 

General  Orders. 

HEAD  QUARTERS,  GLOCESTER,  E.  I.,  ) 
June  25,  1842.  > 

I  hereby  direct  the  military  of  this  state  who  are  in 
favor  of  the  People's  Constitution,  to  repair  forthwith 
to  head  quarters,  there  to  await  further  orders ;  and  I 
request  all  volunteers  and  volunteer  companies  so  dis 
posed  to  do  the  same. 

It  has  become  the  duty  of  all  citizens  who  believe 
that  the  people  are  sovereign,  and  have  a  right  to  make 


134  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

and  alter  their  forms  of  government,  now  to  sustain,  by 
all  necessary  means,  the  constitution  adopted  and  estab 
lished  by  the  people  of  this  state,  and  the  government 
elected  under  the  same. 

The  only  alternative  is  an  abject  submission  to  a  des 
potism,  in  its  various  practical  effects,  without  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  American  states.  I  call  upon  the 
people  of  Rhode  Island  to  assert  their  rights,  and  to 
vindicate  the  freedom  which  they  are  qualified  to  enjoy 
in  common  with  the  other  citizens  of  the  American 
republics. 

I  cannot  doubt  that  they  will  cheerfully  and  promptly 
respond  to  this  appeal  to  their  patriotism  and  to  their 
sense  of  justice  ;  and  that  they  will  show  themselves  in 
this  exigency  to  be  the  worthy  descendants  of  those 
ancestors  who  aided  in  achieving  our  National  Inde 
pendence.  THOMAS  "W.  DORR, 

Governor  and  Commander-in- Chief . 
By  order  of  the  Commander-in-Chief. 
WM.  H.  POTTER,  Adjutant  General. 

Before  this  time,  troops,  with  an  additional  supply  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  had  been  sent  forward  by  Presi 
dent  Tyler,  and  were  stationed  in  the  forts  on  Rhode 
Island,  ready  to  obey  the  requisition  of  the  charter  gov 
ernment.  When  martial  law  was  announced,  a  wild 
consternation  spread  over  the  whole  state ;  business  be 
came  in  a  measure  suspended  ;  a  thrill  of  horror  seemed 
to  touch  all  hearts,  and  men  looked  aghast  upon  each 
other.  This  act  was  passed  on  Saturday,  and  early 
on  Sunday  morning,  June  2'6,  a  band  of  armed  and 
unarmed  men  of  the  "  law  and  order  $  party  entered 
the  office  of  the  Daily  Express,  in  the  city  of  Provi 
dence  searched  the  office  throughout,  and  Commanded 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  135 

the  publishers  to  evacuate  the  building  immediately. 
A  fearful  mob  collected  in  the  street,  and  threatened  to 
destroy  the  building.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
publishers  were  compelled  to  give  notice  that  their 
paper  would  be  discontinued.  This  was  the  only  office 
which  had  up  to  that  time  continued  to  advocate  the 
people's  cause.  As  soon  as  martial  law  was  made 
known,  every  law  and  order  man  and  every  heartless 
ruffian  appeared  to  suppose  himself  licensed  to  commit 
all  such  depredations  as  he  might  choose,  and  armed 
bands  soon  sallied  forth  in  various  directions,  and  com 
menced  their  outrages.  The  following  depositions  will 
give  the  reader  a  few  samples  of  their  proceedings. 

Deposition  of  Leonard   Wcikefield. 

I,  Leonard  Wakefield,  of  Cumberland,  in  the  State 
of  Rhode  Island,  forty  years  of  age,  depose  and  say : 
That  "I  am,  and  have  been  for  about  fourteen  years,  a 
minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  I  have 
resided  in  Rhode  Island,  and  been  a  local  preacher  there 
for  about  fourteen  years.  On  the  loth  of  June,  1842, 
I  was  at  home  in  my  office  ;  I  acted  at  that  time  as 
assistant  to  the  postmaster  at  Cumberland.  The  state 
troops  were  returning  from  Woonsocket  to  Providence 
—  about  three  hundred.  Two  of  the  soldiers  came  into 
the  office  where  I  was  then  engaged,  and  inquired  if  I 
had  any  fire-arms,  and  demanded  the  same.  I  deliv 
ered  to  them  a  small  birding  gun,  which  I  had  had  for 
many  years,  and  they  went  away  with  it.  I  then  went 
into  my  house  to  dinner ;  my  wife  was  tending  a  sick 
infant  child,  which  was  not  expected  to  live,  and  which 
died  in  a  few  weeks  after.  As  I  sat  eating  my  dinner, 
•  three  soldiers  came  into  the  room,  and  two  of  them  were 
stationed  over  me  as  a  guard ;  they  were  armed  with 


136  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

muskets ;  the  other  searched  every  part  of  the  house, 
from  the  garret  to  the  cellar,  not  excepting  the  lodging 
room.  They  found  nothing,  and  I  was  then  ordered  to 
go  with  them  ;  was  not  told  where,  nor  for  what.  Two 
of  the  soldiers  took  me  by  the  arms,  one  on  each  side, 
and  marched  me  across  the  street  to  the  tavern.  I  was 
carried  into  the  hall  of  the  tavern,  and  from  thence, 
without  any  examination  or  inquiry,  put  into  a  wagon 
with  other  prisoners ;  there  were  twenty-one  prisoners 
in  wagons.  We  were  then  conveyed  to  Providence,  a 
distance  of  twelve  miles.  The  wagons  containing  the 
prisoners  were  in  front  of  the  body  of  the  troops,  who 
followed  them.  In  each  wagon  there  were  soldiers 
guarding  the  prisoners ;  two  on  each  side  of  me  with 
muskets ;  and,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  that  was  the  mode 
each  prisoner  was  guarded  ;  none  of  them  were  bound. 
When  we  reached  the  precincts  of  Providence,  we  were 
taken  from  the  wagons  ;  the  prisoners  ranged  two  and 
two  in  file,  flanked  with  soldiers  on  each  side  —  the 
body  of  the  troops  in  the  rear ;  and  in  this  order  we 
were  marched  through  the  principal  streets  to  one  of 
the  armories.  While  we  were  passing  through  the 
streets,  garlands  were  thrown  from  windows  to  the  sol 
diers  ;  and  there  were  shouts,  and  jeering,  and  insults 
heaped  upon  the  prisoners.  I  heard,  repeatedly,  ex 
clamations,  "  There  goes  the  minister  ! "  and  in  one 
instance,  "  D — n  him,  the  next  time  he  preaches,  it  will 
be  in  the  state  prison ! "  I  was  generally  known  in 
Providence  as  a  clergyman.  We  remained  at  the 
armory  about  half  an  hour.  There  was  no  examina 
tion  or  inquiry  of  the  prisoners.  Some  one  of  the 
officers,  ,as  I  supposed,  asked  what  should  be  done  with 
the  prisoners.  General  Edward  Carrington  (who,  I 
understood,  was  one  of  the  governor's  council)  said, 
"God  d — n  them,  take  them  off  to  the  state  prison." 
The  City  Guards  then  took  us  in  custody,  having  first . 
been  ordered  to  load  with  ball  cartridge ;  which  they 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR,  137 

did.  We  were  then  placed  between  two  files  of  sol 
diers,  the  remaining  troops  in  the  rear,  and  were  marched 
to  the  state  prison.  There  were  twenty-one  prison 
ers,  and  the  company  of  soldiers  was  a  full  one.  We 
were  put  into  the  cells  in  the  state  prison.  The  cell 
that  I  was  in  had  sixteen  persons  in  it.  Its  dimensions 
were  about  twelve  feet  by  nine.  Under  the  edge  of  the 
roof  there  was  a  loophole,  and  in  the  door  a  hole  about 
seven  inches  by  five.  A  pipe  for  ventilating  led  from 
the  floor  through  the  outer  wall, 

We  were  put  into  the  cell  about  sunset,  and  the  six 
teen  continued  confined  there  from  Thursday  evening 
until  Sunday  about  noon  —  being  let  out  once  a  day 
in  the  yard,  under  a  guard.  We  slept  on  the  floor  — 
lying  in  a  heap  together,  as  we  best  could.  The  suf 
fering  from  want  of  air  and  space  was  severe.  On 
Sunday  the  prisoners  were  separated ;  and,  after  that, 
there  were  eight  in  the  cell  I  was  put  in.  I  was  con 
fined  six  days,  in  all.  I  was  taken  before  the  commis 
sioners  in  one  of  the  rooms  in  the  jail  building,  Ste 
phen  Branch  was  the  chairman,  and  there  were  three 
others.  No  charges  whatever  were  brought  against  me. 
I  was  asked  my  name,  age,  and  residence ;  if  I  had 
been  at  Chepatchet ;  if  I  had  run  bullets  for  Dorr's 
men ;  to  which  last  question  I  answered  no,  I  was 
also  asked  about  a  discourse  I  had  preached  on  the 
Sabbath  at  the  Albion  village.  Mr.  Branch  made  the 
inquiry.  I  asked  him  if  he  wanted  a  synopsis  of  the 
discourse,  which  I  was  ready  to  give.  He  said  he  only 
wanted  what  I  had  said  about  fighting.  I  replied  that 
I  had  exhorted  the  people  not  to  fight  at  all  on  either 
side.  He  asked  no  further  question.  Christopher 
Rhodes,  who  was  present,  but  not  one  of  the  commis 
sioners,  said  he  knew  nothing  about  it ;  but  his  agent 
at  the  Albion  village  had  told  him  something  about  it. 
He  did  not  state  what.  In  answer  to  the  question 
whether  I  had  been  at  Chepatchet  while  Dorr  was 
12* 


138  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

there,  I  answered  that  I  had  ;  that  I  went  at  the  re 
quest  of  a  number  of  my  neighbors,  to  induce  the 
Cumberland  men,  who  were  there  on  the  suffrage  side, 
to  come  home  ;  that  I  had  no  arms.  It  was  true  that  I 
had  gone  to  Chepatchet,  and  had  an  interview  with  the 
Cumberland  company  on  the  suffrage  side  \  and,  in 
consequence  of  my  representations,  as  I  believe,  they 
left  the  ground  and  returned  home. 

After  these  inquiries  were  made  by  the  commission 
ers,  the  chairman  asked  if  any  person  appeared  for  or 
against  me.  There  was  none  on  either  side.  I  had 
four  of  my  neighbors  present,  to  testify  in  my  favor  if 
necessary  ;  but  there  being  no  charges  against  me,  I 
did  not  call  on  them.  I  was  then  remanded  to  prison, 
no  reason  being  given  for  that  course,  and  remained  in 
confinement  till  the  next  day  in  the  afternoon,  when  I 
was  again  carried  before  the  commissioners,  with  some 
fifteen  others,  to  whom  an  address  was  made,  and  we 
were  discharged.  From  the  time  I  was  arrested,  and 
until  discharged,  nor  ever  after,  did  I  hear  or  learn 
from  the  authorities  the  grounds,  or  charges,  or  suspi 
cions,  upon  which  I  was  arrested.  During  my  impris 
onment,  our  fare  was  two  rations  a  day  of  stale  bread 
and  meat,  and  nothing  else  but  water.  I  had  done 
nothing  on  the  suffrage  side,  except  to  express  my 
opinions  freely  and  fearlessly,  with  a  temperate  zeal.  I 
had  done  nothing  to  induce,  but  all  I  could  to  prevent 
violence.  The  sermon  alluded  to,  which  I  preached  at 
Mr.  llhodes's  village,  (the  Albion,)  was  decidedly  pa 
cific,  and  discouraged  any  attempt  to  take  up  arms. 

LEONARD  WAKEFIELD. 


COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  £ 
PAWTUCKET,  May  4,  1844.  $ 

Personally  appeared  the  above  named  Leonard  Wake- 
field,   and  made  oath   to   and   subscribed  the  forego- 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  139 

ing,  reduced  to  writing  by  me  in  his  presence.     Be 
fore  me,  B.  F.  HALLETT, 

Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

Deposition  of  Eliab  Whipple. 

I,  Eliab  Whipple,  of  Cumberland,  in  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island,  farmer,  thirty-six  years  of  age,  depose 
and  say:  On  the  6th  of  July,  1842,  I  was  arrested  by 
Samuel  Currey  and  two  others,  on  a  warrant  of  the 
governor  and  Council,  on  a  charge  of  treason.  I  was 
brought  to  Providence,  and  put  into  prison.  At  the 
end  of  eight  days  I  was  examined  by  the  commission 
ers  and  remanded  —  nothing  appearing  against  me. 
After  I  had  been  in  prison  twenty-four  days,  I  was  told 
I  was  discharged ;  but,  before  I  left  the  prison,  I  was 
arrested  again  by  the  civil  authorities,  and  the  next  day 
sent  to  the  jail  at  Newport.  At  the  end  of  six  days  I 
was  allowed  bail  in  ten  thousand  dollars,  with  sureties, 
which  I  procured.  At  the  next  term  of  the  court,  the 
grand  jury  found  no  bill ;  but  my  recognizance  was  not 
discharged  .until  the  next  term,  when  I  was  informed 
that  the  grand  jury  had  found  no  bill,  and  the  recogni 
zance  was  discharged.  This  information  I  had  from 
the  attorney  general.  I  was  imprisoned  thirty-one  days, 
and  under  recognizance  for  ten  thousand  dollars  from 
August,  1842,  to  March,  1843.  The  only  reason  for 
my  arrest,  that  I  ever  knew  of,  was,  that  I  had  voted 
for  the  people's  constitution  and  for  Governor  Dorr.  I 
had  never  taken  up  arms,  nor  taken  any  part  in  the 
conflict.  I  went  to  Chepatchet  solely  from  curiosity  on 
Friday,  the  24th  of  June,  and  returned  home  the  next 
day ;  was  unarmed,  and  took  no  part.  I  continued  at 
home  about  my  ordinary  business  until  I  was  arrested. 

ELIAB  WHIPPLE. 


140  THE    LIFE   AND  TIMES   OF 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  f 
PAWTTJCKET,  May  9, 18i4.  $ 

Personally  appeared  the  above  named  Eliab  Whip- 
pie,  and  made  oath  to  and  subscribed  the  foregoing,  re 
duced  to  writing  by  me  in  his  presence.  Before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 
Commissioner)  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

Deposition  of  Henry  Lord. 

I,  Henry  Lord,  of  Providence,  in  the  State  of  Rhode 

Island,  depose  and  say  :    That  I  am  nearly  sixty  years  of 

age.     I  was  taken  by  the  charter  troops  at  Acote's  Hill 

on  the  morning  of  June  89,  1842,  and  was  unarmed. 

I  was  the  only  person  on  the  hill  when  the  advance  of 

the  troops  came  up ;  I  saw  no   other ;  this   was  about 

eight   o'clock,   I   should  judge ;    it  might  have  been 

seven.     When  I  saw  a  horseman  coming,  I  went  down 

the  hill  and  met  him.     It  was  Colonel  George  Rivers. 

He  asked  me,  (pointing  to  the  hill,)  "  Will  they  fire  ?  " 

I  answered  no ;  that  there  were  no  troops  there.     He 

then  went  up,  two  soldiers  following,  and  gave  three 

cheers  when  he  took  possession  of  the  fort.     There  was 

no  resistance  made,  for  there  was  110  one  there  to  make 

it.     I  went  down  into  the  road,  and  there  encountered 

the  main  body  of  the  troops,  and  was   taken  prisoner. 

They  then  had  in  charge  over   a  hundred  prisoners ; 

none  were  tied.     The  troops  did  not  go  up  the  hill,  but 

marched  to  Sprague's  hotel  with  the   prisoners.     The 

next  morning  we  were  mustered,  and  tied  together  with 

large  bed-cords.     The  rope  was  passed  in  a  close  hitch 

around  each  man's  arm,  passing  behind  his  back,  and 

fastening   him  close  up   to  his  neighbor,  there    being 

eight  thus  tied  together  in  each  platoon ;  we  had  no 

use  of  the  arm  above  the  elbow.     In  this  way  we  were 

marched  on  foot  to   Providence,  sixteen  miles,  threat- 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  141 

ened  and  pricked  by  the  bayonet  if  we  lagged  from 
fatigue,  the  ropes  severely  chafing  the  arms  ;  the  skin 
was  off  of  mine.  In  two  instances,  when  the  soldiers 
were  halted  to  refresh,  we  were  refused  the  use  of  their 
cups  to  get  water  from  the  brook  which  passed  the  road, 
and  had  no  water  till  we  reached  Greenville,  about  eight 
miles.  It  was  a  very  hot  day  ;  I  had  had  no  water  or 
breakfast  that  morning,  and  I  received  no  food  until  the 
next  day  in  Providence.  We  were  marched  thus  tied 
through  the  streets,  and,  after  being  exhibited,  were  put 
into  the  state  prison.  Fourteen  were  put  into  my  cell, 
which  was  seven  feet  by  ten.  After  remaining  in  prison 
twenty -four  days,  I  was  released  on  parole. 

HENRY  LORD. 


COMMONWEALTH  OP  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  ? 
PAWTUCKET,  May  10,  1844.  5 

Personally  appeared  the  above-named  Henry  Lord, 
and  made  oath  to  and  subscribed  the  foregoing,  reduced 
to  writing  by  me  in  his  presence.  Before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 
Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

Deposition  of  Mehitable  Howard. 

I,  Mehitable  Howard,  of  Cumberland,  in  the  State 
of  Rhode  Island,  wife  of  Joseph  Howard,  of  said  Cum 
berland,  depose  and  say  :  That  on  the  £9th  of  June, 
1842,  in  the  morning,  between  five  and  six  o'clock, 
Alfred  Ballou,  with  seven  other  men,  all  armed  with 
guns,  came  to  my  house  and  entered  it  —  I  forbidding 
them  to  enter.  Myself  and  grandchildren  were  the 
only  ones  in  the  house ;  he  broke  the  door  open,  and 
drove  it  off  the  hinges.  As  Ballou  came  in,  he  seized 
r$c  by  the  shoulders,  and  shook  me  hard,  leaving  prints 
where  he  took  hold  of  me.  He  then  pushed  me,  and 


142  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

pushed  me  against  a  post  about  three  or  four  feet  from 
where  I  was  standing,  which  bruised  my  shoulder  very 
much.  He  came  up  to  me  again,  seized  me,  and  pushed 
me  again  towards  the  window,  saying,  "  Get  out  of  the 
way,"  in  a  loud  voice.  He  then  gave  me  a  shake,  and 
left  me,  saying,  ( '  Where  is  Liberty  ?  "  meaning  my 
son,  and  "  where  is  the  gun  ?  "  He  went  up  stairs,  and 
searched  the  chambers,  turning  the  beds  over  in  which 
the  little  children  were.  He  then  eame  down,  and 
went  into  my  lodging  room,  and  took  a  gun  and  carried 
it  off.  I  was  much  overcome ;  but  when  he  came  out, 
I  said,  "  I  don't  fear  you,  Mr.  Ballou."  He  then  came 
up  to  me,  laid  his  hands  on  me,  and  shook  me,  and 
said,  in  a  very  loud  voice,  "  Do  you  know  that  you  are 
under  martial  law  ?  "  He  then  took  his  bayonet,  and 
put  the  point  of  the  bayonet  against  the  pit  of  my 
stomach;  he  pressed  the  bayonet  against  me,  and  said, 
"  I  will  run  you  through,"  looking  very  angry  and 
spiteful.  The  point  of  the  bayonet  went  through  my 
clothes  and  fractured  the  skin,  but  did  not  break  it, 
but  caused  the  blood  to  settle  the  size  of  a  ninepence, 
or  larger.  I  verily  believed  at  the  time  that  he  intended 
to  run  me  through.  "With  my  hand  I  knocked  the  bay 
onet  away,  and  he  stepped  back,  and  stood  and  looked 
at  me  with  a  stern  look,  and  then  went  out  of  the 
house.  Ballou  appeared  to  be  the  leader  of  the  band. 
Some  of  his  men  were  in  the  house  ;  I  saw  two  in  the 
house  with  him,  armed.  He  said  nothing  to  me  about 
his  authority,  or  why  he  treated  me  so.  My  husband 
was  a  suffrage  man,  which  is  the  only  reason  I  know 
for  this  treatment.  Ballou  had  been  a  neighbor  of  ours 
for  near  forty  years  ;  he  was  a  charter  man.  I  was 
hurt  very  bad,  and  unable  to  do  my  work  for  several 
days  after,  and  have  never  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  the  shock  upon  my  system.  I  am  sixty-two  years 
of  age.  The  gun  has  not  been  returned. 

MEHITABLE  HOWARD. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORE.  143 

COMMON\TEALTH   OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  SS.  > 

PAWTUCKET,  May  4, 1844.  > 

Personally  appeared  the  above-named  Mehitable  How 
ard,  and  made  oath  to  and  subscribed  the  foregoing, 
reduced  to  writing  in  her  presence  by  me.  Before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 
Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

Deposition  of  Otis  Holmes. 

I,  Otis  Holmes,  of  Providence,  in  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  brewer,  fifty  years  of  age,  depose  and  say  :  That 
on  Sunday,  the  26th  of  June,  1842,  my  house  in  Prov 
idence  was  entered  by  a  body  of  armed  men.  They 
searched  the  house,  breaking  the  locks,  though  I  offered 
to  give  them  the  keys.  I  was  lying  on  the  bed,  and 
was  taken  by  two  men,  who  seized  me  by  the  collar. 
One  was  named  Samuel  Thomas ;  the  other  I  did  not 
know.  Charles  Harris,  at  the  same  time,  put  a  pistol 
to  my  breast.  They  found  nothing  at  my  house  but  my 
training  musket,  which  I  had  had  many  years  ;  they 
took  it,  and  have  never  returned  it.  They  carried  me 
to  my  brewery,  and  broke  in  there  ;  I  had  previously 
offered  them  the  keys  of  my  premises.  In  the  brewery 
they  found  two  old  ducking  guns,  without  locks,  and 
one  old  musket  with  a  shattered  lock  and  no  ramrod. 
They  took  these,  and  they  have  never  been  returned. 
There  was  also  a  hunting  powder~horn,  with  about  half 
a  pound  of  powder,  and  a  canister  of  about  a  pound 
of  powder,  which  belonged  to  another  man  who  left  it 
there.  They  also  broke  into  my  store  and  counting 
room,  and  ransacked  that,  my  private  papers,  and  then 
marched  me  to  the  office  of  Henry  L.  Bowen,  Esq., 
justice  of  the  peace.  I  was  carried  through  the  streets 
by  two  men  having  hold  of  my  collar,  and  another  in 
front  with  a  pistol.  There  were  about  thirty  mea 


144  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

with  muskets  ;  I  made  no  resistance.  The  course  lay 
through  the  principal  street  of  the  city.  I  heard  no 
charges,  and  was  not  examined  before  Mr.  Justice 
Bo  wen,  but  was  marched  to  jail,  with  a  file  of  soldiers, 
in  company  with  ten  others.  I  was  put  in  a  room  in 
the  jail,  and  remained  there  seven  days,  and  then,  with 
out  examination,  put  into  one  of  the  pells  of  the  state 
prison,  with  seven  others.  It  was  large  enough  for  us 
to  lie  down,  by  lying  heads  and  points.  I  remained 
there  twenty -one  days.  The  suffering  was  extreme, 
from  heat  and  want  of  air,  with  plenty  of  vermin.  The 
health  of  the  prisoners  suffered  materially.  During  this 
time  I  was  examined  by  the  commissioners.  They 
charged  me  with  keeping  arms  to  aid  the  suffrage  cause. 
No  proof  was  shown.  I  was  remanded.  I  then  got  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  Judge  Staples,  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  went  before  him  in  a  room  in  the 
jail,  and,  upon  a  hearing,  was  discharged.  I  was  then 
immediately  committed  by  the  deputy  sheriff,  on  a  war 
rant  from  Henry  L.  Bo  wen,  on  a  charge  of  treason.  I 
then  applied  for  another  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which 
Judge  Staples  ordered  to  be  heard  before  the  whole 
court  at  Newport.  I  was  there  heard,  and  allowed  bail 
in  the  sum  of  twelve  thousand  dollars,  with  sureties. 
At  the  next  sitting  of  the  court  in  the  county  of  Prov 
idence,  the  grand  jury  found  no  bill  against  me,  and  I 
was  discharged.  I  was  in  close  prison  fifty-nine  days. 

OTIS  HOLMES. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  ? 
PAWTUCKET,  May  9,  1844.  $ 

Personally  appeared  the  above-named  Otis  Holmes, 
and  made  oath  to  and  subscribed  the  foregoing,  reduced 
to  writing  by  me  in  his  presence.  Before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 
Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  145 

These  minions  of  law  and  order  appeared  to  believe 
that  they  might  deal  as  they  chose  with  the  person  and 
property  of  any  individual  who  had  been  known  to  ex 
press  himself  in  favor  of  Mr.  Dorr  or  the  people's  con 
stitution  ;  and  many  appeared  to  glory  in  their  ruthless 
exploits.  Commissioned  and  non-commissioned  officers 
and  private  soldiers  vied  with  each  other  in  their  law 
less  enterprises.  All  the  streets  in  Providence  were 
placed  under  guards  of  armed  men,  and  sentinels  were 
stationed  at  every  corner.  The  faculty  of  Brown  Uni 
versity  dismissed  the  students,  and  gave  the  college 
buildings  to  the  soldiers  for  barracks. 

The  jails  of  Providence,  Newport,  and  Bristol  were 
soon  filled  with  men  who  had  been  arrested,  and  bound, 
and  brought  to  prison  by  armed  freebooters.  And  even 
the  cells  of  the  state  prison,  designed  only  for  convicts 
for  capital  offences,  were  jammed  as  full  of  innocent  vic 
tims  as  ever  was  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  If  we 
had  not  witnessed  these  scenes  we  could  never  have 
believed  that  men  could  be  so  instantly  converted  into 
demons  ;  men,  who  but  yesterday  enjoyed  a  neighborly 
intercourse,  by  the  first  touch  of  martial  law  fell  upon 
each  other  like  angry  tigers.  No  one  who  had  ever 
been  known  to  be  in  favor  of  suffrage  was  safe  in  his 
own  house,  and  no  sick  room  or  female  retreat  was  pro 
tected  from  violation.  Ministers  and  deacons  of  the 
"  law  and  order  party  "  advised  and  assisted  in  arrest 
ing  members  of  their  own  churches ;  neighbors  turned 
against  neighbors,  and  Christians  against  Christians. 
The  Sabbath  was  profaned  and  the  church  desecrated ; 
priests  and  deacons  readily  surrendered  the  temple  of 


146  THE    LIFE    AND     TIMES    OF 

the  Most  High  to  bands  of  rapacious  men,  and  brutish 
soldiers  took  up  their  abode  in  the  holy  tabernacle. 
The  stillness  of  the  sanctuary  was  broken  with  the  loud 
clanks  of  armor  and  the  rude  trampings  of  an  infidel 
soldiery.  The  church  was  converted  into  an  arsenal, 
weapons  of  death  were  piled  in  the  chancel,  and  men 
thirsting  for  blood  surrounded  the  altar.  Instead  of 
anthems  of  praise  and  orisons  of  peace,  the  sacred  choir 
resounded  with  beastly  orgies,  and  the  house  of  prayer 
became  a  den  of  thieves.  Gangs  of  armed  men,  as 
ruthless  as  ever  sacked  a  conquered  city,  patrolled  the 
state  ;  dismay  went  before  them,  and  shame  followed 
after. 

Men  acting  under  the  supposed  authority  of  martial 
law  appeared  to  think  that  their  jurisdiction  was  as 
boundless  as  their  power.  They  were  not  satisfied  to 
confine  their  operations  to  the  narrow  precincts  of  Rhode 
Island,  but  broke  over  its  boundaries  into  Massachusetts, 
as  the  following  testimony  will  show  :  — 

Deposition  of  Draper  Carpenter. 

I,  Draper  Carpenter,  of  Pawtucket,  in  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  physician,  fifty  years  of  age  and  up 
wards,  depose  and  say  :  That  on  the  day  on  which 
Alexander  Kelby  was  shot,  I  was  in  Pawtucket,  on  the 
Massachusetts  side.  In  the  evening  there  were  a  num 
ber  of  discharges  of  muskets  from  the  bridge,  which  is 
the  dividing  line  between  Massachusetts  and  Rhode 
Island.  The  firing  appeared  to  be  in  volleys.  There 
were  troops  stationed  on  the  bridge,  said  to  be  the  Kent 
ish  Guards  —  Rhode  Island  troops.  I  did  not  see  a 
suffrage  man  in  arms  that  day  or  evening  ;  and  I  have 
no  doubt  these  troops  were  the  Rhode  Island  charter 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  147 

troops.  Soon  after  the  firing  commenced,  a  woman  was 
brought  into  my  office,  supposed  to  be  wounded ;  but  it 
appeared  that  she  had  fainted  from  fright.  At  that  time 
the  firing  ceased,  but  soon  after  commenced  again,  after 
an  interval  of  about  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  Soon  after 
the  firing  began  the  second  time,  a  man  came  into  my 
office,  slightly  wounded  in  the  knee  from  a  musket  shot ; 
but  it  was  a  slight  wound,  and  I  did  not  dress  it.  I  did 
not  know  the  person,  and  cannot  name  him ;  I  was 
standing  at  the  front  window  of  my  office,  with  a  view 
to  see  or  hear  what  was  transpiring  at  the  bridge.  The 
distance  from  the  bridge  was  about  twenty  rods,  on 
Main  Street,  leading  from  the  bridge.  While  standing 
in  this  position,  a  musket  ball  passed  through  two  panes 
of  glass  in  the  two  sashes  forming  the  show  window  of 
the  shop,  passing  near  my  head,  and  lodging  in  the 
shelf,  which  it  penetrated  about  four  inches  from  the 
edge  where  it  entered.  [The  witness  produces  the  ball, 
which  he  says  he  took  from  its  lodgment,  and  it  appears 
to  be  a  musket  ball  of  the  size  used  for  United  States 
muskets,  and  not  a  rifle  ball.]  A  few  minutes  after  this, 
I  was  called  on  to  go  and  see  a  man,  Alexander  Kelby, 
who  was  reported  to  have  been  shot.  I  directed  them 
to  bring  him  directly  to  the  office,  as  it  was  no  place  for 
an  examination  there.  They  went  away  for  that  pur 
pose  ;  but  immediately  information  came  that  he  was 
dead.  I  was  well  acquainted  with  Alexander  Kelby, 
and  had  generally  been  his  family  physician.  He  had 
a  wife  and  five  or  six  children,  and  had  resided  in 
Pawtucket,  on  the  Massachusetts  side,  for  some  nine  or 
ten  years.  He  worked  in  the  factory,  and  was  rather 
an  intellectual  man,  and  read  a  great  deal.  I  often 
loaned  him  books.  He  was  a  man  of  good  character, 
and  always  peaceable  and  inoffensive.  Other  buildings, 
not  in  the  direction  of  my  office,  on  another  street 
leading  from  the  bridge,  were  fired  into,  as  appears  from 
the  marks  of  the  balls  lodged  therein,  or  having  bounded 


148  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

from  the  brick  walls.  The  bridge  is  the  most  central 
part  of  the  village,  and  the  two  streets  leading  from  it 
the  most  populous  on  this  side. 

•    DRAPER  CARPENTER. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  ) 
PAWTUCKET,  May  2,  1844.  5 

Then  the  said  Draper  Carpenter,  being  duly  cau 
tioned  and  sworn,  made  and  subscribed  the  foregoing, 
reduced  to  writing  in  his  presence,  by  and  before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 
Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

It  appears  from  the  testimony  of  the  widow  of  Alex 
ander  Kelby  that  her  murdered  husband  was  a  dresser 
tender,  was  about  forty  years  of  age,  and  worked  in  a 
manufactory  on  the  Massachusetts  side,  and  that  by  his 
death  she  was  left  a  widow  with  eight  small  children, 
and  without  sufficient  means  for  their  support.  It 
should  be  recollected  that  all  the  wicked  and  revolting 
deeds  which  have  been  mentioned,  and  hundreds  more 
of  the  same  kind,  were  committed  under  the  banner  of 
"  law  and  order,"  and  under  the  direction  and  in  open 
view  of  a  class  of  men  professedly  scrupulous  about 
nice  points  of  law  —  a  class  of  men  who  claimed  nearly 
all  the  piety,  talent,  and  morality  in  the  state,  in  which 
were  found  most  of  the  public  officers  and  a  large  num 
ber  of  the  clergy  ;  and  yet  this  same  party,  with  shame 
less  impunity,  trampled  upon  all  laws,  human  and  di 
vine.  By  turning  to  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  it  will  be  seen  that  Article  I.  of  the  Amend 
ments  was  violated  and  broken  by  "  abridging  the  free- 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  149 

dom  of  speech  and  the  press ;  "  Article  II.  by  "  infring 
ing  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms ;  " 
Article  III.  by  ' (  quartering '  soldiers  in  houses  without 
the  consent  of  the  owners  ;  "  and  Article  IV.,  which  de 
clares  that  "  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreason 
able  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated,"  was 
wholly  disregarded.  If  the  president  of  the  United 
States  had  been  as  desirous  to  guard  its  constitution 
from  violation  as  he  was  to  protect  a  repudiated  charter 
aristocracy,  instead  of  aiding  and  abetting  in  these 
nefarious  violations,  he  would  have  hindered  and  sup 
pressed  them. 

If  the  height  to  which  he  had  been,,  by  accident, 
so  suddenly  raised  had  not  made  him  giddy,  and  if  he 
had  not  forgotten  his  own  official  oath,  he  would  not  at 
the  same  time  have  violated  the  rights  of  the  people  of 
a  sovereign  state  and  the  constitution  of  the  nation. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  scenes  of  more  than 
savage  barbarity  which  were  of  almost  daily  occurrence 
during  this  reign  of  terror.  When  the  whole  commu 
nity  is  given  up  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  lawless  sol 
diery,  no  bounds  can  -be  set  to  their  criminalities. 
When  the  father  of  a  family  finds  that  his  house  is 
no  longer  his  castle,  that  his  own  sacred  fireside  is  no 
protection  against  the  violent  encroachments  of  armed 
men  —  when  he  sees  his  home  desecrated  and  plun 
dered,  his  property  destroyed,  and  his  books  and  papers 
scattered  in  the  street  —  when  his  wife  and  daughters 
are  dragged  from  their  beds  or  closets,  with  scarcely  a 
garment  upon  them,  submitted  to  the  taunts  and  jeers 
13 


150  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF 

of  vile  men,  driven  about  their  own  house  with  the 
muzzle  of  the  musket  or  pistol,  and  the  merciless  bay 
onet  is  made  to  penetrate  .the  bosom  of  the  innocent 
female  —  when  the  husband  and  father  is  plunged  into 
the  dungeon  or  driven  into  exile,  and  his  home  and 
his  family  left  without  support  or  protection  —  when  the 
young  mother,  as  she  clasps  the  tender  infant  to  her 
bosom,  trembles  'lest  some  brutish  soldier  should  violate 
her  sacred  retirement  —  when  the  chamber  of  the  sick 
or  dying  is  no  security  against  sacrilegious  intrusion, 
and  when  magistrates  and  clergymen  justify  and  ap 
prove  of  all  these  things,  —  a  tragedy  is  enacted  which 
no  language  can  describe  or  pencil  paint.  It  crushes 
the  resolutions  of  the  brave  and  the  hopes  of  the  true. 
We  stand  aghast  at  the  spectacle ;  it  is  the  triumph  of 
malice,  and  carnival  of  devils. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  151 


CHAPTER  X. 

MR.  DORR'S  RETURN.  PROCLAMATION.  DISMISSES  HIS 
MEN,  AND  LEAVES  THE  STATE..  PROCEEDINGS  OF 
CHARTER  TROOPS.  ARRESTS  AND  IMPRISONMENT  OF 

SUFFRAGE    MEN. 

LEAVING,  for  the  present,  this  part  of  the  history,  we 
return  to  Mr.  Dorr.  His  proclamation  for  convening 
the  people's  legislature  at  Chepatchet  on  the  ensuing 
4th  of  July  was  issued  on  the  25th  of  June.  He  had 
been  absent  from  the  state  since  the  18th  instant,  and 
had  given  no  orders  or  advice  concerning  the  fortifica 
tions  at  Acote's  Hill ;  and  before  he  decided  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  give  the  people  another  opportunity  to 
rally  in  support  of  their  constitution,  he  was  assured,  by 
a  deputation  sent  him,  that  a  large  number  of  people 
had  already  collected  at  that  place,  who  were  deter 
mined,  notwithstanding  all  their  reverses,  and  all  that 
threatened  them  at  home  and  abroad,  to  persist  in  sup 
port  of  their  own  constitutional  government.  With 
these  renewed  assurances  of  fidelity,  Mr.  Dorr  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  his  duty  to  aid  them  in  a 
further  effort  to  accomplish  that  object,  and  therefore 
issued  the  afore-mentioned  proclamation.  It  was  evi 
dent  that  the  people's  legislature  could  not  now  be  con- 


152  THE  LIFE  ANC  TIMES  OF' 

vened  In  Providence.  Chepatchet  was  a  quiet  conntiy 
village,  situated  sixteen  or  seventeen  miles  from  Prov 
idence,  where  it  was  thought  that  Mr.  Dorr's  legislature 
might  convene,  and,  unmolested,  proceed  to  pass  such 
orders  and  acts  as  might  be  deemed  expedient.  No 
possible  harm  could  arise  from  such  a  meeting  ;  but  it 
soon  became  apparent  that  no  such  session  could  be  held 
even  there,  unless  the  place  was  defended  by  a  strong 
military  force.  It  was  known  that,  on  the  %M  of  June, 
whilst  Mr.  Dorr  was  absent  from  the  state,  and  nothing 
was  doing  any  where  by  the  friends  of  the  constitution, 
except  the  small  collection  at  Chepatchet,  Governor 
King  issued  his  orders  as  commander-in-ehief  to  all  the 
military  of  the  state  to  put  themselves  in  readiness  for 
immediate  service,  and  on  the  &4th  of  June  a  steamboat 
was  ordered  from  Providence  to  bring  up  all  the  mil 
itary  forces  from  Newport,  Warren,  and  Bristol.  The 
boat  returned  the  same  evening,  bringing  several  com 
panies  of  artillery  and  seven  or  eight  pieces  of  field 
ordnance.  This  boat  was  again  ordered  back  the  next 
day,  and  returned  with  several  companies  of  infantry, 
numbering,  in  all,  three  or  four  hundred  men.  In  the 
mean  time  orders  were  given  to  all  the  military  forces 
of  the  state  to  repair  forthwith  to  Providence.  The 
state  troops  were  soon  brought  in  from  all  the  neighbor 
ing  towns,  and  on  the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  the 
entire  "Washington  brigade,  five  or  six  hundred  strong, 
came  in  over  the  Stonington  Railroad. 

A  company  of  Carbineers  from  New  York  city  was 
brought  in,  each  man  being  armed  with  one  of  Colt's 
six-barrelled  rifles.  A  company  of  Sea  Fencibles,  hav- 


THOMAS  WILSON  DORR*  153 

ing  in  charge  a  long  Paixhan  gun,  (a  thirty-two 
pounder,)  arrived  from  Newport.  By  Sunday  evening, 
June  £6,  the  forces  collected  at  Providence  amounted 
to  from  three  to  four  thousand  men,  with  fifteen  or 
twenty  pieces  of  artillery.  The  city  of  Providence  was 
filled  with  soldiers  and  their  appliances,  and  nothing 
was  heard  or  seen  on  either  side  but  the  dread  array  and 
din  of  war.  Now,  what  had  caused  all  this  terrific  dis 
play  of  hostile  preparations  ?  Was  there  any  formi 
dable  foe  in  sight,  any  abroad  or  at  home,  to  warrant 
.  these  warlike  preparations  ?  Might  it  not  have  arisen 
from  a  constitutional  cowardice  in  some,  or  a  fear  that 
arises  from  conscious  guilt  in  others,  urged  on  by  pow 
ers  behind  the  throne,  compared  with  which  the  chief 
magistrate  was  himself  a  mere  cipher  ?  or  had  the 
charter  authorities  actually  become  alarmed  by  the  false 
hoods  and  bugbears  which  they  had  themselves  conjured 
up  and  put  into  circulation  ? 

Where  was  the  foe  with  which  this  formidable  charter 
army  was  to  contend  ?  Mr.  Dorr  was  at  Chepatchet, 
where  he  had  attempted  to  convene  his  legislature. 
Some  of  his  abiding  friends  had  gathered  around  him, 
and  a  few  were  provided  with  arms.  The  neighboring 
citizens  visited  the  place  out  of  curiosity,  and  went  and 
returned  as  they  chose  ;  but  it  has  been  shown,  by  good 
testimony,  that  only  about  two  or  three  hundred  men 
were  under  arms  at  that  place  at  any  one  time.  Mr. 
Dorr  very  soon  became  satisfied  that  the  people's  cause 
had  become  prostrated  and  their  rights  crushed  by  the 
iron  heel  of  despotism.  He  saw  that  further  efforts 
would  be  useless  and  improper,  although  the  little  band 
18* 


154  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   Of 

of  brave  men  under  arms  manifested  a  desire  to  dispute 
the  ground  to  the  last,  and,  if  necessary,  to  pour  out 
their  blood  as  a  libation  to  freedom ;  yet  Mr.  Dorr  be 
lieved  that  no  such  sacrifice  was  required  of  them  or 
him,  and  therefore,  on  Monday,  the  27th  of  June,  he 
issued  the  following  order  :  — 

GLOCESTER,  June  27,  1842. 

Believing  that  a  majority  of  the  people  who  voted 
for  the  constitution  are  opposed  to  its  further  support  by 
military  means,  I  have  directed  that  the  military  here 
assembled  be  dismissed. 

I  trust  that  no  impediments  will  be  thrown  in  the 
way  of  the  return  of  our  men  to  their  homes. 

Yours,  T.  W.  DORR. 

This  order  was  issued  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon,  and  forthwith  communicated  to  the  men  under 
arms  by  Gen.  DeWolf  and  Col.  Comstock,  who  com 
manded  the  station.  Immediately  on  receiving  the 
order,  the  military  dispersed.  Let  not  this  little  band 
of  brave  men  be  disparaged  because  they  were  few  in 
numbers.  Theirs  was  not  the  empty  daring  that  goes 
with  the  multitude  and  boasts  loudest  when  no  enemy 
is  near.  Their  courage  arose  from  an  abiding  sense  of 
right.  The  spirit  of  1776  glowed  in  their  bosoms  and 
nerved  their  arms  ;  they  were  true  men,  whom  no  bribes 
could  purchase,  nor  threats  terrify.  Mr.  Dorr  re 
mained  at  his  quarters  until  about  seven  o'clock  that 
afternoon,  when  he  left  the  place.  But  no  language 
can  describe  his  heart-rending  emotions  when  he  found 
himself  obliged  to  abandon  a  cause  in  which  he  had 
labored  so  long  and  sacrificed  so  much  —  a^  cause  so 


THOMAS   WILSON  DORR.  155 

big  with  momentous  consequences  to  himself,  to  his 
state,  to  the  American  people,  and  to  the  world.  On 
that  eventful  night  a  lurid  halo  seemed  to  surround  the 
sun  as  he  sunk  beneath  the  horizon.  A  star  in  the 
American  constellation,  once  bright  and  shining,  now 
became  darkened  as  with  an  eclipse  :  patriots  wept,  and 
strong  men  looked  dismayed.  We  will  now  return  to 
the  royal  charter  army  at  Providence,  and  take  a  brief 
notice  of  their  movements.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Dorr  had 
given  orders  for  the  dismission  of  the  men  under  arms 
at  Chepatchet,  he  sent  a  copy  of  that  order  to  Prov 
idence  for  immediate  publication  in  the  New  Age ;  but 
that  communication  was  intercepted,  the  seal  broken, 
and  the  paper  passed  over  to  the  governor  and  Council. 
They  kept  it  in  their  possession  until  the  next  day, 
when  they  gave  it  up  to  those  to  whom  it  belonged. 
But  the  New  Age,  in  which  Mr.  Dorr  designed  the 
order  to  be  published  the  day  before,  had  been  sup 
pressed,  and  the  proprietors  durst  not  now  publish  any 
thing  without  a  permit  from  the  governor  or  his  Council. 
At  length  a  written  permit  was  obtained,  and  the  order 
was  published  in  an  extra  from  that  office.  But  the 
governor  and  his  councillors  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  information  which  they  obtained  by  the  seizure  of 
the  letter  the  day  before,  which  contained  the  order,  and 
had  hastily  and  slyly  despatched  several  military  squad 
rons,  which  were  directed  to  take  separate  routes  and 
proceed  to  Chepatchet  with  all  possible  haste,  in  order 
to  capture  as  many  men  as  possible  before  they  could 
get  home  to  their  families.  These  "law  and  order" 
troops  had  now  become  very  courageous  —  men  who, 


156  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

the  day  before,  were  frightened  at  their  own  shadows, 
now  became  bold  as  lions,  and  on  they  rushed  towards 
Chepatchet  j  but  when  they  arrived  there,  they  found 
nothing  but  an  empty  breastwork.  Not  a  man  re 
mained  to  oppose  them  :  therefore  this  heroic  army 
marched  boldly  up,  and  took  possession,  and  imme 
diately  despatched  the  following  bulletin  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  at  Providence. 

Orders,  No.  54. 

HEAD  QUARTERS,  &c.,  ? 
June  28,  1842.         5 

The  village  of  Chepatchet  and  fort  of  the  insurgents 
were  STORMED  at  a  quarter  before  eight  o'clock  this 
morning,  and  taken,  with  about  one  hundred  prisoners, 
by  Colonel  William  W.  Brown.  None  Jellied  —  none 
wounded !  &*~ , 

The  one  hundred  men,  more  or  less,  mentioned  in 
that  bulletin,  were  none  of  them  found  at  the  fortifica 
tion,  or  any  where  else,  under  arms,  but  were  such  men 
as  their  scouts  and  marauding  parties  had  picked  up  and 
taken  prisoners  on  the  route.  The  village  of  Chepatchet 
was  situated  on  a  public  mail  route  between  Providence 
and  Norwich  in  Connecticut ;  and  Jedediah  Sprague,  a 
very  respectable  man,  kept  a  large  stage  hotel  in  the 
village.  Knowing  that  Mr.  Dorr  had  been  entertained 
there,  these  rapacious  "  law  and  order  "  troops  proceeded 
to  take  possession  of  and  plunder  the  premises.  The 
following  is  the  deposition  of  Mr.  Sprague  :  — 

Deposition  of  Jedediah  Sprague. 

I,  Jedediah  Sprague,  of  Glocester,  in  the  county  of 
Providence,  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  157 

Plantations,  aged  forty  years,  do  depose  and  say  :  That 
I  now  am,  and  have,  for  the  space  of  about  four  and  a 
half  years  past,  been  the  iniiholder  of  the  Chepatchet 
hotel  in  said  town  of  Glocester ;  that  I  was  the  keeper 
of  said  hotel  in  June,  A.  D.  1842,  at  the  time  of  the 
encampment  of  the  suffrage  party,  or  a  portion  thereof, 
011  Acote's  Hill,  near  said  village  of  Chepatchet.  On 
Thursday,  June  23,  1842,  late  in  the  afternoon,  the 
suffrage  people  aforementioned  commenced  encamping 
on  said  hill ;  early  Saturday  morning  following,  (to  wit, 
the  25th  of  June,)  Governor  Dorr  arrived  and  took  rooms 
in  my  house.  Two  or  three  days  previous  to  said  25th 
of  June,  persons  known  to  be  in  the  interest  of  the 
charter  party,  (so  called,)  and  hostile  to  the  suffrage 
party,  were  reconnoitring  this  section  of  the  state,  both 
in  the  day  and  night  time.  Tuesday  and  Wednesday 
evenings,  the  21st  and  22d  of  June,  1842,  expresses 
arrived  from  Providence,  bringing  the  intelligence  that 
armed  companies  were  forming  in  Providence  for  the 
purpose  of  making  an  attack  on  the  village  of  Che 
patchet  ;  in  consequence  of  this  information,  a  portion 
of  the  citizens  of  said  village,  together  with  a  few  per 
sons  from  other  towns,  formed  a  patrol  to  watcn  and 
protect  the  place.  On  Wednesday  night  aforesaid, 
(which  was  the  first  night  of  the  streets  being  generally 
guarded,)  information  was  received  that  large  numbers 
of  persons  had  passed  the  turnpike  gate,  about  four 
miles  east  of  this  village,  on  the  direct  road  to  Prov 
idence,  who  were  approaching  the  village  at  about  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  which  is  an  unusual  time  for  travellers 
to  be  on  the  roads  in  this  part  of  the  country.  About 
one  o'clock  on  the 'morning  of  Thursday,  the  23d  of  June 
aforesaid,  Messrs.  Shelley,  Keep,  Harris,  and  Peckham 
were  apprehended,  all  armed  with  pistols  ;  about  which 
time,  several  carriages,  apparently  approaching  from  to 
wards  Providence,  hastily  turned  off  from  the  main  or 
turnpike  road,  some  eighty  or  one  hundred  rods  below. 
14 


158  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF 

The  persons  taken  by  the  patrol  aforesaid  were  supposed 
to  be  an  advanced  guard  of  the  company,  which,  from 
the  intelligence  received,  it  was  expected  would  attack 
the  village  ;  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  discharge  of 
cannon,  which  took  place  in  the  village  immediately 
after  the  arrest  of  said  persons,  deterred  others  from 
entering  the  village.  It  being  believed  that  the  village 
of  Chepatchet  would  not  be  strong  enough  to  hold  out 
against  any  considerable  number  of  armed  men  or 
strong  force,  the  persons  apprehended  were  marched, 
with  said  company  of  patrol,  to  Woonsocket,  where 
said  Shelley,  Keep,  Harris,  and  Peckham  were  dis 
charged.  On  Thursday,  the  23d  aforesaid,  said  patrol 
returned,  accompanied  by  a  part  of  two  military  com 
panies  from  Woonsocket,  and  commenced  the  encamp 
ment  on  Acote's  Hill,  as  before  stated.  Said  Acote's 
Hill  was  in  possession  of  the  suffrage  party,  as  aforesaid, 
until  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  June  27th.  During  the 
occupancy  of  said  hill  and  the  village,  the  suffrage  peo 
ple  were  quiet,  orderly,  and  peaceable,  and  the  personal 
rights  of  the  citizens  were  respected.  On  Saturday 
morning,  the  25th  of  June,  the  bar  of  my  house, 
where  liquors  were  sold,  was  by  me,  at  the  request  of 
Governor  Dorr,  closed,  and  remained  so  until  Tuesday 
morning,  the  28th.  On  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  the 
27th,  the  military  on  Acote's  Hill  disbanded,  and  nearly 
all  of  them  quietly  retired  from  the  village.  An  ex 
press  started  from  my  house  on  Monday  afternoon,  bear 
ing  a  communication  from  Governor  Dorr  to  Walter  S. 
Burges,  Esq.,  of  Providence,  acquainting  said  Burges 
with  the  fact  that  the  forces  on  Acote's  Hill  were  to  be 
disbanded,  and  requesting  said  communication  to  be 
published  in  the  Express,  the  organ  of  the  suffrage 
party,  published  in  Providence. 

About  seven  o'clock,  (according  to  the  best  of  my  rec 
ollection,)  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  June  28,  the 
advance  guard  of  Colonel  Brown's  regiment  arrived  at  my 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  159 

house  in  carriages,  under  the  command,,  as  I  understood 
at  the  time,  of  Lieutenant  John  T.  Pitman,  (clerk  of  the 
United  States  Court  for  the  district  of  Rhode  Island,) 
who  was  well  known  to  me  at  that  time,  and  for  several 
years  previous.  There  were  in  my  house,  at  the  time 
said  advance  guard  arrived,  only  eight  m^le  persons, 
besides  my  own  family  and  domestics,  three  of  whom 
were  gentlemen  from  Boston,  who  had  arrived  that 
morning  ;  one  gentleman  from  Long  Island,  and  three 
persons  with  him,  who  had  stopped  with  me  over  night 
as  travellers,  and  who  had  not,  to  my  knowledge,  had 
any  thing  to  do  with  the  matters  at  that  time  agitating 
the  state ;  and  a  Mr.  Lyman  Cooley,  who  had  left  the 
village  the  night  before,  and  had  returned  that  morning 
to  my  house,  through  fear,  as  he  stated,  that  he  could 
not  make  his  escape.  Said  Cooley  was  from  New  York 
city  ;  was  taken  prisoner  in  my  house  that  morning  ; 
imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  and  state's  prison  in  Prov 
idence  in  a  state  of  insanity,  and  soon  after  died  an  in 
mate  of  the  asylum  for  the  poor  in  said  Providence. 
Mr.  Cooley  was  formerly  a  Providence  man.  I  con 
sidered  him  to  be  in  a  state  of  insanity  from  his  appear 
ance  and  conversation  on  the  morning  of  the  28th, 
before  he  was  taken  prisoner.  None  of  the  persons  in 
my  house,  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  advance 
guard  as  aforesaid,  were,  to  my  knowledge,  in  any  way 
armed  ;  there  was  no  such  instrument  as  a  musket,  gun, 
pistol,  sword,  or  the  like,  to  be  seen  in  said  house.  As 
said  advance  guard  drove  up  in  front  of  my  house  in 
carriages,  the  citizens  of  the  village  soon  collected  in 
the  front  piazza,  and  about  the  doors,  to  the  number  of 
ten  or  a  dozen,  which  number  gradually  increased  for  a 
few  minutes  ;  none  of  whom  were,  to  my  knowledge, 
armed.  I  was  standing  on  the  piazza  in  front  of  the 
entry  door  leading  to  the  bar  room  ;  the  persons  com 
prising  said  advance  guard,  having  alighted  from  their 
carriages,  came  along  scatteringly,  and  advancing  to- 


160  THE    LIFE    AND     TIMES    OF 

wards  me.  I  observed  one  shaking  hands  with  Mr. 
Alexander  Eddy,  a  citizen  of  this  place ;  heard  them  in 
conversation  while  approaching  the  spot  where  I  was 
standing.  As  they  came  on  to  the  piazza,  I,  turning 
partly  around,  invited  them  to  walk  in  ;  they  not  heed 
ing  my  invitation,  I  repeated  it.  At  this  juncture  they 
all  stood  apparently  hesitating  what  course  to  take.  I 
stepped  over  the  threshold  of  the  door,  and  again  in 
vited  them  to  walk  in.  At  the  last  invitation,  one  of 
the  advance  guard  placed  his  musket  across  the  door 
afore  alluded  to,  in  the  act  of  guarding  it.  Mr.  Alex 
ander  Eddy  at  that  moment  attempted  to  pass  in  at  the 
door,  and  the  guard  dropped  the  muzzle  of  his  gun  to 
prevent  him  from  passing  in ;  the  guard  then  turned 
his  left  eye  over  his  left  shoulder  to  the  street,  and 
whilst  he  was  looking  to  the  street,  Eddy  raised  the 
muzzle  of  said  guard's  musket,  and  passed  into  the 
entry.  When  said  person  who  was  guarding  the  door 
as  aforesaid  turned  his  face  fronting  the  house,  and 
saw  Eddy  in  the  entry,  he  brought  his  musket  to 
bear  upon  him,  (said  Eddy,)  and,  calling  him  a  God 
damned  rascal,  told  him  to  come  out,  or  he  would  shoot 
him  down.  At  this  time  there  was.  a  general  cry 
amongst  the  persons  of  the  advance  guard  — ' '  God 
damn  'em,  shoot  'em  down,"  and  simultaneously  a  rush 
for  the  doorway.  I  was  standing  near  the  person  who 
first  brought  his  piece  to  bear  upon  Eddy,  and  raised 
the  muzzle  above  the  head  of  any  one  in  the  entry,  by 
putting  my  hand  under  his  gun. 

There  was  a  general  rush  at  this  time  of  the  armed 
soldiers  and  unarmed  citizens  and  spectators  for  the 
doorway,  and  the  entry  was  immediately  filled  with 
both  classes — the  armed  soldiers  attempting  to  shoot 
the  unarmed,  and  continually  keeping  up  the  cry  of 
"  God  damn  'em,  shoot  'em  down"  I  was  in  the  midst 
of  the  scene,  and  was  continually  raising  and  brushing 
off  the  muskets,  pistols,  carbines,  &c.,  with  which  they 


THOMAS    WILSOX    DORR.  161 

were  armed ;  commanding  them  not  to  shoot ;  telling 
them  they  were  not  resisted  by  any  armed  force  ;  stat 
ing  to  them  that  they  produced  the  whole  confusion 
and  disorder,  and  that  if  they  would  be  quiet,  order 
would  be  restored ;  that  I  could  and  would  maintain 
order  in  my  house.  I  should  think  that,  during  this 
confusion,  I  brushed  from  my  own  person,  and  other 
unarmed  persons,  muskets,  guns,  pistols,  and  the  like, 
as  much  as  a  dozen  times.  During  the  squabble  afore 
mentioned,  I  was  pushed  some  seven  or  eight  feet  from 
the  doorway  into  the  entry,  into  about  the  midst  of  the 
crowd.  In  the  mean  time  the  door  was  pushed  to,  and 
locked  by  an  unarmed  man,  and  held  by  unarmed  per 
sons  ;  the  armed  persons  on  'the  outside  attempted  to 
break  said  door  down.  Knowing  that  the  unarmed 
persons  in  the  entry  could  at  that  time  protect  them 
selves  against  those  that  were  armed,  I  passed  through 
the  bar  room  from  said  entry,  and  went  on  to  the 
piazza  outside  of  the  house,  through  one  of  the  bar 
room  windows,  thinking  I  might  be  serviceable  in  pre 
venting  mischief  on  the  outside.  As  I  passed  the  first 
bar  room  window  from  the  entry,  in  my  attempt  to  get 
outside,  some  one  of  the  soldiers  thrust  a  pistol  through 
a  pane  of  glass  in  said  window,  directed  or  aimed  at 
me.  I  passed  to  the  next  window,  raised  it,  and  went 
out.  Being  outside,  and  on  the  piazza  aforesaid,  the 
first  thing  that  attracted  my  attention  was  said  John  T. 
Pitman  with  the  muzzle  of  his  musket  or  carbine  at 
the  key-hole  of  said  entry  door,  and  attempting  to  get 
it  off.  I  was  within  about  fifteen  feet  of  said  Pitman 
when  I  alighted  from  the  window,  and  immediately 
approached  him,  and  ordered  him  not  to  fire ;  my  lan 
guage  was,  "For  God's  sake,  don't  youjire  in  there." 
This  expression  I  think  I  made  directly  as  I  alighted 
from  the  window  as  aforesaid.  I  intended,  if  I  could, 
to  prevent  said  Pitman  from  firing  in,  and  approached 
him  for  that  purpose ;  but  his  piece  was  discharged 
14* 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 


when  I  was  within  about  three  feet  of  him.  I  recollect 
said  Pitman's  language  at  the  time  of  firing  was,  <(  I  don't 
care  a  God  damn;  I  mean  to  kill  somebody"  After 
said  Pitman  had  discharged  his  piece  as  aforesaid,  he 
rushed  a  few  steps  to  the  north,  on  the  piazza,  and 
then  back  towards  the  door,  rapidly,  appearing  per 
fectly  frantic,  infuriated,  and  fiendish.  About  this  time 
the  main  body  of  Colonel  Brown's  regiment  were  in 
sight,  and  such  as  had  arrived  proceeded  to  surround  the 
house.  I  entered  the  front  door,  which  is  about  twenty 
feet  north  of  the  one  aforementioned,  passed  through 
one  of  the  front  rooms  into  the  aforementioned  entry, 
and  unlocked  the  door  through  which  said  Pitman  had 
discharged  his  piece.  The  ball  which  was  fired  through 
the  key-hole  as  aforesaid,  passed  through  the  thigh  of 
Mr.  George  H.  N.  Bardine,  making  a  deep  and  severe 
flesh  wound.  Said  Bardine  was  at  the  time  in  said 
entry,  and  near  the  door.  Up  to  this  time  I  heard  no 
other  discharge  of  fire-arms  near  or  about  my  house, 
and  am  very  positive  there  had  been  none  ;  had  there 
been  any,  I  must  have  heard  and  known  it.  In  a  very 
few  minutes  my  house  was  completely  filled  with  armed 
men,  and  was  entirely  in  their  possession  —  every  door 
guarded  by  soldiers.  Soon  after,  or  about  the  time  the 
matters  just  spoken  of  were  transpiring,  I  retired  into 
the  back  part  of  the  house,  and  discovered  a  soldier 
standing  at  one  of  the  back  doors  with  his  musket 
cocked  and  bayonet  fixed,  and  aimed  into  the  house, 
and  ordering  the  males  and  females  to  march  into  the 
back  yard,  one  at  a  time.  This,  however,  was  aban 
doned  by  my  assuring  them  that  the  ladies  were  un 
armed,  and  would  most  certainly  do  no  harm  to  any  of 
them.  The  soldiers  who  took  possession  of  my  house 
were  abusive  and  rough  in  their  language  and  behavior, 
from  the  time  they  entered  as  aforesaid,  during  my  con 
tinuance  on  the  premises,  which  was  up  to  four  o'clock, 
P.  M.,  of  Wednesday  the  29th.  This  I  do  not  mean 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  163 

to  apply  to  all  of  them ;  but  it  was  the  fact  with  very 
many.  They  took  possession  of  every  room  in  'the 
house,  and  of  all  my  effects,  and  ransacked  from  garret 
to  cellar.  There  were  neither  arms  nor  munitions  of 
war  in  the  house,  to  my  knowledge,  at  the  time,  except 
a  small  bird  gun  or  fowling-piece,  which  was  taken  and 
carried  off.  Soon  after  the  main  body  of  Colonel 
Brown's  regiment  arrived,  about  half  a  dozen  pieces  of 
cannon  were  planted  on  the  south  and  west  sides  of  my 
house,  and  aimed  towards  it.  They  (that  is,  the  sol 
diers)  swore  they  would  "  blow  us  all  to  hell."  They 
were  prevailed  upon  not  to  fire  into  the  house,  by  the 
interposition  of  two  of  the  citizens  of  the  village,  who 
informed  them  that  they  were  for  ( '  law  and  order"  but 
disapproved  of  their  firing  into  the  house.  The  guns 
were  afterwards  wheeled  about,  and  fired  a  number  of 
times,  to  the  great  destruction  of  windows  in  my  house 
and  of  other  houses  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  There 
are  sidelights  to  the  door,  (through  the  key-hole  of 
which  said  Pitman  discharged  his  piece,)  with  glass 
nine  by  twelve,  through  which  he  might  easily  see 
every  thing  which  was  going  on  in  the  entry  aforesaid, 
there  being  four  lights  on  each  side  of  said  door,  of  the 
aforementioned  size  ;  and  the  aforementioned  front  door, 
about  twenty  feet  further  north  on  said  piazza,  was  open 
during  the  aforementioned  squabble  in  the  entry.  Noth 
ing  prevented  any  one,  if  he  chose,  from  passing 
through  said  last-mentioned  door. 

About  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  the  28th, 
I  directed  my  domestics  to  set  the  table  the  whole 
length  of  the  dining  room,  (one  range  of  tables  in  said 
room  will  accommodate  about  sixty  persons  at  a  time,) 
and  to  put  upon  it  all  the  victuals  it  would  hold,  and  to 
be  prepared  to  supply  it  as  soon  as  need  might  require 
it ;  all  of  which  was  accordingly  done.  Immediately 
after  the  arrival  of  the  troops,  as  aforesaid,  the  table 
aforesaid  was  filled,  and  continued  to  be  filled  from  the 


164  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

time  of  their  arrival  in  the  morning,  until  between  four 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  :  as  fast  as  one  got  up 
another  would  supply  the  vacant  place.  In  addition  to 
those  seated  at  the  table  eating,  others  were  standing 
and  eatino-  victuals,  which  they  took  and  had  reached  to 
them  from  the  table. 

There  were  also  persons  in  the  kitchen  when  the  cook 
ing  was  going  on,  who  were  taking  victuals  as  the  same 
were  cooked,  and  others  helping  themselves  from  the 
closets  and  cellar.  The  table  was  also  set  for  them 
again  that  evening,  and  a  great  many  were  victualled  as 
aforesaid  on  the  two  succeeding  days. 

In  taking  possession  of  my  barns,  stables,  and  gran 
ary,  they  took  possession  of  about  twenty  tons  of  hay, 
between  eight  hundred  and  one  thousand  bushels  of 
oats,  and  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  bushels  of  corn,  and 
between  one  and  two  tons  of  rye  straw,  —  all  of  which 
was  used  and  destroyed,  with  the  exception  of  some 
thing  less  than  one  ton  of  hay.  They  also  took  pos 
session  of  six  horses  at  that  time  in  the  stable,  five  or 
six  carriages,  and  as  many  harnesses,  buffalo  robes, 
and  whips ;  five  of  the  horses  were  used,  and  I  believe 
the  other  one,  by  the  charter  party,  (so  called  ;)  two  of 
said  harnesses  have  never  been  returned ;  four  of  the 
buffalo  robes,  and  some  half  dozen  or  more  of  whips 
which  were  taken,  have  not,  as  yet,  been  recovered. 
During  the  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  aforementioned, 
up  to  the  time  of  my  departure  from  the  village, 
my  house,  barns,  &c.,  were  constantly  guarded,  and  I 
was  denied  access  to  my  barns  and  stables,  and  to  many 
of  the  rooms  in  my  house. 

The  troops  of  the  charter  party  (so  called)  also  had 
full  possession  of  my  liquor  bar  and  cellar,  and  helped 
themselves  to  cigars,  wines,  and  ardent  spirits,  accord 
ing  to  their  pleasure  ;  several  hundred  dollars  worth  of 
property  was  consumed  or  destroyed  in  liquors  and 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  165 

cigars.  I  was  generally  a  spectator  to  the  scenes  before 
described,  after  they  had  taken  possession  of  my  house  ; 
but  was  occasionally  ordered  about,  at  the  muzzle  of  a 
presented  musket  or  pistol,  to  perform  some  service 
about  the  house  or  bar.  One  man,  in  two  instances,  or 
dered  me,  in  an  authoritative  tone,  with  a  pistol  presented 
at  me,  (S  to  feed  his  horses ;  "  previous  to  this,  all  of  the 
white  males  in  my  employ  had  been  taken  prisoners, 
and  put  under  guard. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  the  29th,  my  wife  and  the 
females  in  the  kitchen  were  put  under  guard,  and  set  to 
work  cooking  ;  said  guard  was  armed.  Immediately 
after  this,  I  was  taken  prisoner,  but  was  released  on 
parole,  with  my  promise  to  be  in  Providence  at  six 
o'clock,  P.  M.,  of  that  day.  I  was  arrested  by  Colonel 
"VV.  W.  Brown  aforementioned,  soon  after  which  he  left 
the  village  with  between  one  and  two  hundred  prison 
ers  who  had  been  taken  at  Chepatchet  and  the  country 
round  about.  I  saw  said  prisoners  tied  together  in  front 
of  my  house,  with  ropes,  previous  to  their  departure  for 
Providence.  An  hour  or  two  after  my  arrest,  and  after 
the  departure  of  Colonel  Brown  with  the  prisoners,  Ex- 
Governor  "William  C.  Gibbs  sent  for  me  to  come  to  his 
room,  which  was  in  my  house,  when  he  gave  me  an 
examination  as  to  my  participation  in  the  Rhode  Island 
affairs ;  and  the  following  is  a  true  copy  of  an  instru 
ment  thereupon  given  to  me,  which  was  in  my  presence 
written  by  the  Rev.  Francis  Vinton,  of  ^  Newport,  and 
in  my  presence  signed  by  said  Gibbs ;  which  instru 
ment  is  now  in  my  possession,  and  at  this  time  before 
me,  and  is  exactly  in  the  following  letters,  words,  and 
figures :  — 

Jedediah  Sprague  (after  due  examination)  is  hereby 
released  from  arrest. 

WM.  C.  GIBBS,  General  of  Staff. 

June  29,  1842. 


166  THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

Having  pledged  myself  to  Colonel  Brown  to  be  In 
Providence  at  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I,  notwith 
standing  the  release  from  Governor  Gibbs,  went  into 
Providence  to  report  myself  according  to  promise,  hav 
ing  with  me  said  discharge  from  Governor  Gibbs.  I 
understood,  after  I  arrived  at  Providence,  that  there  was 
talk  of  having  me  again  arrested.  On  inquiry  by  me, 
Who  is  going  to  have  me  arrested  ?  the  reply  was, 
Henry  L.  Bowen.  I  exhibited  my  discharge  or  release 
to  Governor  Samuel  Ward  King,  stating  to  him  that  I 
was  threatened  with  another  arrest.  His  reply  was,  in 
regard  to  the  release  which  I  had  exhibited  to  him,  "I 
don't  know  but  what  it  is  sufficient — don't  know  about 
it  —  don't  know."  I  then  went  to  the  office  of  Henry 
L.  Bowen,  Esq.,  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  and  for  the 
city  of  Providence.  I  went  voluntarily,  not  having 
been  arrested  or  apprehended,  saving  by  Colonel  Brown, 
as  aforestated.  I  understood  that  said  Bowen  was  acting 
as,  a  commissioner  under  martial  law.  He  asked  me  a 
number  of  questions,  which  I  answered ;  no  witnesses 
were  examined.  Mr.  Bowen  finally  ordered  a  consta 
ble  in  attendance  to  take  me  to  prison ;  which  was 
accordingly  done.  Said  Bowen  stated  to  me,  at  the 
time,  upon  my  inquiring  what  the  charge  was  against 
me,  that  "  it  was  treason,"  and  that  "  the  evidence  was, 
that  I  had  entertained  at  my  house  Thomas  W.  Dorr, 
and  the  persons  associated  with  him."  I  remained  in 
prison  twenty-two  days,  and  suffered  much  from  indis 
position  ;  I  was  in  feeble  health  when  committed  —  was 
S  recovering  from  a  long  period  of  illness.  After  I 
been  in  prison  about  two  weeks,  I  was  taken  before 
a  court  of  commissioners,  as  it  was  styled,  and  exam 
ined  by  interrogatories  directed  to  me  only.  I  was  not 
confronted  by  witnesses,  nor  were  any  examined  on 
the  occasion,  to  my  knowledge.  After  the  examination 
as  aforesaid,  I  was  remanded  to  prison. 


• 

THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  167 

The  following  is  a  true  copy  of  certain  papers  now 
before  me,  which  I  procured  this  spring  from  the 
keeper  of  the  county  jail  and  warden  of  the  state's 
prison,  and  are  exactly  in  the  following  words,  letters, 
figures,  and  characters,  to  wit:  — 

To  the  Keeper  of  the  Providence  County  Jail : 
You  are  hereby  required  to  receive,  and  safely  keep, 

until  further  orders,  Jedediah   Sprague,  in  the  debtor's 

apartment. 

By  order  of  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

HENRY  L.  BOWEN. 

June  29,  1842. 

PROVIDENCE,  ss. 

Committed  the  bodies  of  the  within-named  Jedediah 
Sprague  to  the  Providence  county  jail,  as  within  com 
manded. 

Fees,  74  cts.  PELEG  JOHNSON,  Constable. 

June  29, 1842. 

PROVIDENCE,  ss. 

Committed  the  bodies  of  Jedediah  Sprague  and  Jo 
seph  Hogans  to  the  Providence  county  jail,  by  order  of 
the  governor  and  council,  and  have  made  my  return  on 
the  mittimus,  and  left  it  with  the  jailer,  together  with 
the  prisoner. 

Fees — 2  commitments,       .         .         $1  48 
Carriage,  ....  1  00 

2  48 
PELEG  JOHNSON,  Constable. 

PROVIDENCE,  July  21,  1842. 

Jedediah  Sprague,  named  opposite,  was  discharged 
on  an  order  from  the  governor  and  council. 

THOMAS  CLEVELAND,  Jailer. 


168  THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF 

HEAD  QUARTERS,  COUNCIL  CHAMBER,  > 
PROVIDENCE,  July  21,  1842.  $ 

SIR:  You  are  ordered  to  discharge  Jedediah  Sprague, 
prisoner  of  war,  and  allow  him  to  go  at  liberty. 
By  order  of  his  Excellency,  Samuel  W.  King. 

L.  H.  ARNOLD,  one  of  his  Council. 
To  THOS.  CLEVELAND,  Esq., 

Keeper  of  the  State  Jail,  Providence. 

The  above  is  a  true  copy  of  the  original  order  on  file. 
THOS.  CLEVELAND,  Jailer. 

PROVIDENCE,  April  6,  1844. 

April  6,  1844. 

The  above  are  correct  copies  of  the  original  order  of 
commitment,  officer's  return  thereon,  commitment  and 
discharge  of  Jedediah  Sprague. 

THOMAS  CLEVELAND,  Jailer. 

This  deposition  was  sworn  to  before  Jesse  S.  Tourtel- 
lot,  justice  of  the  peace. 

In  1844,  Mr.  Sprague  applied  to  the  legislature  for 
a  remuneration  for  the  property  which  the  state  troops 
had  so  taken,  used,  and  destroyed.  This  application 
was  rejected  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  vote 
of  35  to  17,  and  in  reply  to  his  demand  Mr.  Sprague 
was  told  that  "  he  had  been  taken  and  imprisoned  as  an 
insurgent,  and  had  been  let  out  of  jail  on  sufferance, 
and  ought  to  be  thankful  for  being  let  off  so  easily." 

The  brave  Colonel  Brown,  with  the  band  of  lawless 
robbers  under  his  command,  returned  to  Providence  on 
the  29th  of  June,  bringing  with  him  one  hundred  and 
thirty  prisoners,  every  man  with  his  hands  pinioned  be 
hind  him,  and  all  tied  together  with  coarse  ropes.  In 
that  condition  they  were  marched,  and  driven,  and  urged 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  169 

on  by  the  bayonet  from  Chepatchet  to  Providence,  a  dis 
tance  of  sixteen  miles,  without  any  refreshment.  Here, 
fatigued  and  faint,  —  their  spirits  broken,  their  arms 
chafed  and  bleeding  from  the  ropes,  and  their  feet 
bruised  and  sore,  —  they  were  halted  in  front  of  the 
"Hoyle  Tavern,"  so  called,  and  were  there  publicly 
submitted  to  all  the  insults  and  reproaches  that  a  pro 
fane  and  lawless  multitude  could  heap  upon  them. 
After  this  barbarous  infernalia,  the  prisoners  were  again 
moved  along  in  front  of  Colonel  Brown's  own  house 
for  further  insult  :  here  they  were  mocked,  hissed  at, 
and  spit  upon,  and  Algerine  ladies  waved  their  hand 
kerchiefs  and  threw  a  profusion  of  flowers  from  their 
windqws  upon  the  brave  conquerors.  In  this  manner 
one  hundred  and  thirty  innocent  citizens  of  Khode 
Island  were  led  through  the  principal  streets  in  the 
city  of  Roger  Williams,  amid  the  loud  taunts  and  jeers 
of  a  ruthless  mob.  But  all  this  was  not  enough.  The 
prisoners  were  next  given  to  understand  that  they  were 
to  be  taken  back  of  College  Hill,  and  there  to  be  shot. 
No  tongue  can  tell  the  feelings  of  indignation  and  hor 
ror  which  thrilled  the  bosoms  of  these  innocent  victims 
of  political  malice,  nor  shall  we  attempt  to  describe  the 
deep  anguish  which  often  broke  out  in  loud  screeches 
from  the  children  and  Mends  of  some  of  the  prisoners. 
But  they  were  not  shot ;  their  captors  called  themselves 
merciful  men,  and  therefore  marched  the  prisoners  to 
the  jail,  and  crowded  them  into  the  cells.  In  some  cells 
only  seven  feet  by  nine,  with  a  single  aperture,  seven 
inches  by  four,  for  the  admission  of  air,  fourteen  pris 
oners  were  confined:  When  it  is  recollected  that  this 
15 


170  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

was  the  29th  of  June,  and  the  hottest  part  of  the  sea 
son,  we  wonder  that  any  ever  escaped  alive  from  those 
dungeons.  If  a  single  negro,  who  had  escaped  from 
his  master  in  South  Carolina,  had  been  treated  with 
half  that  indignity  and  cruelty  in  the  city  of  Provi 
dence,  the  whole  population  would  have  rushed  to  his 
rescue. 

By  this  time,  the  cells  of  the  state  prison  and  the 
filthy,  dark  receptacles  and  other  apartments  of  nearly 
all  the  jails  in  the  state  were  densely  crowded  with  men 
who  had  been  captured  and  made  prisoners  by  bands  of 
land  pirates.  The  most  heinous  crime  which  any  of 
the  prisoners  had  committed  was  to  vote  for  the  peo 
ple's  constitution  and  for  officers  under  it,  and  many  of 
their  captors  and  the  principal  leaders  of  these  banditti 
were  men  who  had  also  voted  for  that  same  constitution, 
and  solemnly  engaged  to  support  it,  but  who  had  since 
forfeited  their  own  engagements,  and  become  traitors  to 
a  righteous  cause.  The  victims  were  true  men,  their 
captors  were  false. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  whilst  Colonel  Brown  was  earn 
ing  such  laurels  at  Chepatchet,  Governor  King  gave 
orders  to  Colonel  Hodges  to  proceed  immediately  to 
Pawtucket,  and  blow  up  the  bridge  at  that  place.  This 
bridge  is  situated  near  the  centre  of  a  village,  which  prob 
ably  contained  at  that  time  about  ten  thousand  inhab 
itants.  The  Pawtucket  River,  which  this  bridge  crosses, 
separates  the  State  of  Massachusetts  from  Rhode  Island, 
and  of  course  is  one  half  in  each  state.  This  bridge  is 
constantly  occupied  by  passers,  and  is  the  only  direct 
connecting  medium  between  the  separate  parts  of  this 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  171 

large  village.  It  was  opposite  this  bridge,  on  the  Mas 
sachusetts  side,  that  Alexander  Kelby  had  been  shot  by 
the  "  law  and  order  "  forces  the  day  before.  The  fol 
lowing  is  the  deposition  of  Harvey  Chafee,  who  was  a 
lieutenant  in  the  company  which  was  sent  on  that  expe 
dition. 

Deposition  of  Harvey  Chafee. 

I,  Harvey  Chafee,  of  Providence,  in  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island,  forty  years  of  age,  depose  and  say :  That, 
on  the  28th  day  of  June,  1842,  I  was  first  lieutenant  of 
the  united  company,  Train  Artillery  of  Providence.  I 
had  formerly  held  the  commission  of  lieutenant  colonel 
in  the  same  company,  and  resigned  in  1833,  and  con 
tinued  an  honorary  member.  On  the  27th  of  June  I 
was  elected  lieutenant,  and,  understanding  the  company 
was  only  to  be  used  as  an  unarmed  patrol,  I  accepted 
the  commission,  and  was  qualified.  The  company  then 
had  no  arms ;  Colonel  Bradford  Hodges  was  the  com 
mander.  Tuesday  morning,  the  28th,  after  it  was 
known '  that  a  man  had  been  shot  at  Pawtucket,  we 
paraded  at  the  armory.  As  one  of  the  officers,  I  was 
there  shown  an  order  from  Governor  King  to  Colonel 
Bradford  Hodges,  to  this  effect :  "  You  are  commanded 
to  proceed  forthwith  to  Pawtucket,  and  blow  up  Paw- 
tucket  bridge."  The  order  was  signed  by  Samuel  W. 
King,  commander-in-chief.  I  have  a  distinct  recollec 
tion  that  such  was  the  substance  of  the  order,  and  am 
certain  that  it  was  an  order  to  blow  up  the  bridge. 
There  were  two  cannon  mounted,  with  ammunition ; 
but  we  had  no  muskets.  We  were  expecting  every 
moment  muskets  from  Massachusetts.  Shortly  after, 
the  muskets  did  arrive  at  the  railroad  depot,  from  Bos 
ton,  and  were  brought  to  the  armory  in  boxes.  The 
muskets  were  there  taken  out  of  the  boxes,  and  were 
the  United  States  Massachusetts  muskets.  They  were 


172  THE   LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

in  very  bad  condition ;  the  bayonets  would  not  fit,  and 
could  not  be  made  4;o  fit.  They  were  afterwards  tried, 
and  many  of  them  could  not  be  got  off,  and  the  charges 
had  to  be  drawn.  After  the  muskets  were  distributed, 
we  proceeded  to  Pawtucket  with  the  two  cannon,  and, 
when  half  the  distance,  halted  and  charged  the  cannon 
with  canister  and  grape,  and  the  small  arms  with  ball ; 
then  proceeded  to  Pawtucket  bridge,  and  drew  up  the 
cannon  so  as  to  command  the  bridge  and  the  Massachu 
setts  side.  We  saw  no  armed  persons,  nor  any  dis 
turbance,  nor  indication  of  an  invasion  of  Rhode  Island 
from  Massachusetts.  There  was  excitement  growing  out 
of  what  had  happened  the  night  previous,  but  no  direct 
interference  with  us.  .  Colonel  Hodges  communicated 
to  one  of  the  officers  of  one  of  the  companies  which 
were  at  Pawtucket  when  we  arrived,  that  his  orders 
were  to  blow  up  the  bridge,  and  he  took  the  command 
of  the  forces.  During  some  parts  of  the  time  we  were 
stationed  there,  there  were  as  many  as  four  hundred 
troops,  I  should  judge.  It  was  understood  that  Captain 
Olney,  who  commanded  one  of  the  companies,  (the  car 
bineers,)  was  a  New  York  man,  and  not  a  citizen  of 
Rhode  Island.  The  artillery  company  occupied  this 
post  till  Thursday  noon,  when  we  took  up  our  line  of 
march  for  Providence.  While  we  were  in  Pawtucket, 
I  could  not  see  the  least  occasion  for  the  company  being 
stationed  there.  HARVEY  CHAFEE. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss. ) 
PAWTUCKET,  May  10,  1844.  5 

Personally  appeared  the  above.-named  Harvey  Chafee, 
and,  being  duly  cautioned  and  sworn,  made  and  sub 
scribed  the  foregoing,  reduced  to  writing  by  me  in  his 
presence.  Before  me,  B.  F.  HALLETT, 

Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 

through  the  Commonwealth. 

We  have  seen  that  on  the  £7th  of  June,  Mr.  Dorr 


THOMAS   WILSON    DOKK.  173 

caused  all  the  men  who  had  taken  up  arms  in  support 
of  the  people's  constitution  to  be  dismissed,  and  the 
charter  authorities  declared,  that  by  that  act,  the  "  war 
was  ended ;  "  but  their  own  wicked  outrages  did  not  end 
here.  The  charter  troops,  anxious  to  gain  new  laurels, 
went  forward  with  less  fear,  when  they  found  that  all 
opposition  was  withdrawn.  Revenge  was  the  watch 
word,  and  although  their  victims  were  often  found 
among  their  own  quiet  neighbors,  they  still  "  cried 
havoc  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war  "  upon  them.  On 
the  night  of  the  30th  of  June,  1842,  after  every  indica 
tion  of  opposition  to  the  charter  government  had  been 
put  to  silence,  Colonel  Blodget,  who  commanded  a  small 
detachment  of  "  law  and  order  "  troops,  marched  his 
forces  into  the  town  of  Bellingham,  in  the  State  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  a  little  past  midnight,  forcibly  broke 
open  and  entered  a  public  house,  and  proceeded  to 
search  it,  and  when  the  keeper  demanded  of  the  com 
manding  officer  his  authority,  Colonel  Blodget  replied, 
By  the  authority  of  the  bayonet !  At  this  place  the  party 
succeeded  in  arresting  several  inoffensive  men,  whom 
they  marched  to  Rhode  Island  to  be  imprisoned,  be 
cause  they  had  been  known  to  be  in  favor  of  the  peo 
ple's  constitution*.  At  the  same  time  similar  operations 
were  going  on  in  different  parts  of  the  state,  as  the  fol 
lowing  deposition  will  show. 

Deposition  of  Stafford  Healy. 

I,  Stafford  Healy,  of  Rehoboth,  in  the  county  of  Bris 
tol,  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  yeoman,  of 
lawful  age,  testify  and  say :   That  on  the  twenty-ninth 
15* 


174  .      THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

day  of  June,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty-two-,  when  at  work  for  Martin  Luther,  in  the 
town  of  Warren,  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
being  myself  at  that  time  a  citizen  of  said  Warren,  I 
was  forcibly  taken  by  a  number  of  armed  men  early  in 
the  morning,  some  time  before  sunrise,  who  broke  into 
the  house  and  took  me  therefrom,  and  carried  me  to  a 
hotel,  when,  after  making  some  inquiries  of  me,  I  was 
again  removed  to  the  jail  of  Bristol  county,  and  there 
confined  for  the  space  of  seven  or  eight  days,  when  I 
was  examined  by  Joseph  M.  Blake,  and  discharged  in 
the  course  of  three  days  —  nothing  being,  as  he  said, 
found"  against  me ;  and  all  by  no  authority,  to  my 
knowledge,  except  that  of  force. 

STAFFORD  HEALY. 

Many  of  the  principal  leaders  in  these  outrages  were 
men,  who,  all  their  lives,  had  either  sought  or  held 
office,  and  who  were  guided  on  all  occasions  by  motives 
of  self-aggrandizement,  and  though  professedly  friendly 
to  the  dear  people,  always  sought  to  crush  them,  as  the 
following  deposition  will  show. 

Deposition  of  Albion  N.  Olney. 

I,  Albion  N.  Olney,  of  Providence,  in  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island,  attorney  at  law,  depose  and  say :  That 
on  Sunday,  the  26th  day  of  June,  1842,  I  was  on  the 
premises  of  Otis  Holmes,  in  said  Providence,  but  not  in 
his  house,  when  he  was  forcibly  dragged  from  it  by  a 
number  of  armed  men,  who  had  broken  into  his  house. 
I  also  saw  him  carried  through  the  streets,  with  a  per 
son  holding  him  on  each  side  by  the  collar,  and  armed 
men  in  front  and  rear.  He  was  marched  to  the  office 
of  Henry  L.  Bowen.  There  were  from  twenty  to  thirty 
armed  men,  and  many  who  were  not  armed.  I  saw 
among  the  leaders  Sylvester  Hartshorn,  the  United 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  175 

States  marshal  for  the  district.  He  was  not  armed, 
having  only  a  cane,  but  appeared  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  proceedings,  I  saw  Mr.  Holmes's  brewery 
broken  open,  and  also  his  store  and  counting  room,  and 
another  store  adjoining.  Mr.  Holmes,  in  the  house  and 
at  the  brewery,  begged  them  not  to  break  in,  and  he 
would  furnish  the  keys ;  but  no  attention  was  paid  to 
his  request.  While  the  soldiers  were  marching  Mr. 
Holmes  through  Westminster  Street,  I  heard  Joseph  F. 
Arnold,  who  was  an  inspector  in  the  custom  house,  say 
to  his  son,  (who,  armed  with  a  musket  and  fixed  bayo 
net,  marched  directly  in  the  rear  of  Mr.  Holmes,) 

<f  Prick   him,   Frank ;    prick   the   d d   scoundrel." 

Mr.  Arnold  was  standing  in  front  of  his  hotlse  as  the 
men  passed,  and  said  this  in  an  audible  voice.  I  heard 
and  remember  the  words  distinctly.  On  several  days 
after,  I  saw  Sylvester  Hartshorn,  the  United  States 
marshal,  equipped  with  a  musket  and  accoutrements, 
drilling  and  doing  duty  with  a  volunteer  company  of 
citizens.  On  the  18th  of  May  I  saw  Hon.  John  Pit 
man,  judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  in  the 
ranks  of  the  charter  troops,  armed  with  a  musket. 
During  the  period  of  martial  law,  I  saw  Edward  J. 
Mallett,  the  Providence  postmaster,  doing  duty  as 
guard  in  College  Street.  At  the  same  time  that  I  saw 
Judge  Pitman  in  the  ranks,  I  also  saw  Richard  W. 
Greene,  United  States  district  attorney,  marching  as 
one  of  the  soldiers  to  go  on  Federal  Hill,  and  William 
H.  Watson,  collector.  •  ALBION  N.  OKNEY. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  Bristol,  ss.  ) 
PAWTTJCKET,  May  9,  1844.  $ 

Personally  appeared  the  above-named  Albion  N. 
Olney,  and  made  oath  to  and  subscribed  the  foregoing, 
reduced  to  writing  in  his  presence  by  me.  Before  me, 

B.  F.  HALLETT, 

Commissioner,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace 
tiirvu<rh  the  C-oi 

o 


176  THE   LIFE  A»D   TIMES 


CHAPTEE    XI, 

MARTIAL   LAW. 

HITHERTO,  in  describing  and  commenting  npon  the* 
outrages  committed  upon  the  persons  and  property  of 
the  people*x>f  Khode  Island  under  the  pretext  of  martial 
law,  we  have  viewed  them  as  acts  of  flagrant  injustice, 
unnecessary,  and  before  unknown  in  this  country,  with 
out  instituting  any  inquiry  into  the  validity  of  the  act 
under  which  they  were  committed.  But  the  justifica 
tion  set  up  by  the  authors  and  perpetrators  of  those  acts 
deserves  a  further  and  more  definite  consideration. 
Every  wrong  doer  in  that  ruthless  tragedy  pleads  mar 
tial  law  in  full  justification  of  all  his  acts.  It  is  be 
lieved  that,  in  this  country,  martial  law  is  but  vaguely 
understood  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  "We  have 
only  learned,  from  history,  that  this  terrible  engine  was 
sometimes  put  in  operation  in  the  earlier  history  of  some 
of  the  European  nations  ;  that  it  was  seldom  or  never 
resorted  to  except  in  actual  warfare,  and  then  pro 
claimed  by  a  military  chieftain.  But  it  is  well  ascer 
tained  that  no  civil  government  in  the  known  world, 
except  Rhode  Island,  has  attempted  to  establish  it  over 
a  whole  empire  or  single  state  for  the  last  two  hundred 
years.  Its  consequences  were  found  to  be  so  abhorrent 


THOMAS  WILSON   DORK.  177 

to  every  sentiment  of  humanity,  that  the  whole  civilized 
world  united  to  abolish  it.  Now,  it  is  evident  that 
the  Rhode  Island  General  Assembly  neither  in  184& 
nor  at  any  other  time  before  or  since  possessed  any  legal 
or  constitutional  power  to  place  the  state  under  martial 
law.  The  act  was  not  authorized  by  any  precedent  in 
this  country  or  in  any  other  recently.  The  charter,  un 
der  which  that  body  acted,  gave  them  no  such  author 
ity,  but  impliedly,  at  least,  forbade  it ;  and  by  the  rat 
ification  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  all 
such  power  had  been  delegated  to  the  General  Govern 
ment.  The  state  authorities  might  call  upon  the  posse 
comitatus,  or  the  military,  if  necessary,  to  enforce  their 
own  statute  laws ;  but  this  was  the  extent  of  their  power. 
They  could  never  authorize  any  functionary,  civil  or 
military,  to  overstep  the  provisions  of  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States.  In  short,  the  state  had  no  right 
whatever  to  make  or  exercise  any  but  civil  laws.  It 
may  be  presumed  that  the  legislature,  which  passed  that 
act  in  Rhode  Island,  did  not  fully  realize  the  dangerous 
step  they  were  taking ;  but,  relying  upon  their  own 
omnipotence,  they  assumed  the  tremendous  responsi 
bility  of  surrendering  the  lives  and  interests  of  the 
whole  people  to  the  mercy  of  the  bayonet.  At  the  time 
martial  law  was  declared  in  Rhode  Island,  the  judicial 
tribunals  of  the  state  were  open  for  the  trial  of  all 
offences,  and  their  proceedings  in  no  way  interfered  with 
or  molested.  Under  the  double  rule  of  both  civil  and 
martial  law,  the  state  presented  the  strange  anomaly  of 
two  separate  and  distinct  systems  of  government  in  full 
operation  in  the  same  state  and  over  the  same  people  at 


178  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF 

the  same  time.  But,  in  operating  these  different  politi 
cal  engines,  the  acts  of  each  were  not  always  kept  dis 
tinct  from  the  other,  but  men  were  arrested  and  im 
prisoned  under  martial  law,  and  afterwards  brought  to 
trial  before  a  civil  tribunal.  All  such  proceedings  were 
evidently  arbitrary  and  illegal ;  they  tended  to  break  up 
all  the  foundations  of  social  order,  overturn  all  civil  and 
political  institutions,  restore  the  reign  of  force,  and 
make  might  the  test  of  right.  Martial  law  has  never 
been  justified  except  from  dire  necessity  ;  it  is  governed 
by  no  rules,  and  knows  no  limits ;  it  overrides  and  sus 
pends  all  other  laws  during  its  continuance.  Accord 
ing  to  the  principles  held  in  countries  where  martial 
law  has  been  resorted  to,  the  right  to  employ  it  arises 
solely  from  imperious  necessity,  and  ceases  the  instant 
the  necessity  that  called  it  forth  has  passed  by ;  and 
all  acts  committed  under  any  such  pretext,  after  that 
necessity  has  ceased,  have  ever  been  held  criminal. 
Therefore,  if,  on  the  24th  of  June,  1842,  such  neces 
sity  had  existed,  and  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island 
had  possessed  the  constitutional  power  to  set  up  martial 
law,  in  a  momentary  crisis,  it  is  obvious  that  on  the  28th 
of  that  month  the  cause  had  entirely  ceased,  as  the  gov 
ernment  well  knew  ;  and  therefore  every  act  of  violence 
committed  after  that  time,  under  that  pretext,  was  just  as 
much  a  crime  as  if  no  such  law  had  ever  existed.  It  is  ap 
parent  that  no  such  necessity  ever  existed  at  any  moment 
during  the  Rhode  Island  controversy.  The  government 
should  first  have  resisted  the  supposed  rebellion  by  its 
civil  officers  ;  and  if  they  were  found  unable  of  them 
selves  to  enforce  the  laws  and  bring  delinquents  to  jus- 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORtl.  179 

tice,  they  should  next  have  called  on  the  civil  posse  ; 
and  if,  with,  that  assistance,  the  government  still  found 
itself  unable  to  compel  obedience  to  its  institutions,  the 
whole  military  power  of  the  state  might  have  been 
called  in  aid  of  the  government.  But,  without  taking 
any  of  these  steps,  immediate  resort  was  had  to  martial 
law,  and  all  the  men  and  munitions  of  war  that  the 
government  could  command  at  home  or  procure  from 
abroad  were  forthwith  turned  out  to  prey  upon  all  such 
as  were  supposed  to  entertain  political  principles  adverse 
to  the  charter  government.  But  even  martial  law,  with 
all  its  summary  claims,  does  not,  as  was  supposed  in 
Khode  Island,  instantly  convert  the  whole  military  into 
a  band  of  lawless  freebooters ;  but  as  soon  as  that  law 
is  suspended,  every  one  who  has  overstepped  its  neces 
sary  limits  is  liable  to  be  brought  to  trial  before  a  civil 
tribunal ;  and,  if  the  view  which  has  been  taken  of  the 
subject  be  correct,  then  all  the  acts  of  violence  and  vil- 
lany  committed  in  Rhode  Island  in  184£,  under  pretext 
of  martial  law,  constitute  a  fearful  catalogue  of  crimes, 
which  never  have  been,  and  never  can  be,  fully  atoned 
for  in  this  world.  But  we  are  asked,  Why  have  not 
the  perpetrators  of  these  deeds  been  brought  to  trial  be 
fore  courts  of  justice  ?  To  this  WB  answer,  they  could 
not  be  proceeded  against  out  of  the  state  for  offences 
committed  within  its  jurisdiction,  and  the  highest  tribu 
nals  within  the  state  allow  all  such  defendants  to  justify 
themselves  by  pleading  martial  law. 

When  we  consider  that  nearly  all  the  most  outrageous 
and  wicked  acts  of  violence  were  committed  after  all 
opposition  had  ceased,  and  that  hundreds  of  men  were 


180  THE    LIFE.  AND    TIMES    OF 

taken  by  violent  hands  from  their  homes,  their  fields, 
or  their  workshops,  surrounded  with  muskets  and  bayo 
nets,  bound  with  ropes,  and,  without  any  kind  of  pre 
cept,  driven  to  prison  amid  the  loud  taunts  and  insults 
of  savage  men  and  heartless  women,  crowded  like  sheep 
into  dark,  narrow,  and  filthy  cells,  nearly  suffocated  for 
want  of  air,  without  water  sufficient  to  quench  their 
thirst,  fed  like  pigs  upon  two  wretched  and  scanty  meals 
a  day,  denied  all  intercourse  with  their  friends,  and 
kept  in  this  painful  condition,  in  some  instances,  for  sev 
eral  weeks,  and  when  at  last  they  were  brought  forth 
from  their  dungeons  for  examination,  were  told  that 
nothing  was  found  against  them  ;  when  we  recollect 
also  that  the  victors  and  their  victims  were,  in  many 
instances,  neighbors  and  acquaintances ;  when  we  see 
bands  of  armed  men  firing  at  random  into  a  crowd  of 
innocent  spectators ;  when  we  behold  a  defenceless  in 
dividual  coolly  shot  down,  whilst  without  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  state,  and  the  next  day,  when  it  is  known 
that  all  opposition  has  ceased,  we  see  the  chief  magis 
trate  of  the  state,  without  any  cause  whatever,  send  an 
armed  squadron  to  blow  up  a  bridge  in  the  very  midst 
of  a  populous  city,  a  portion  of  which  was  beyond  his 
jurisdiction,  —  when  we  reflect  upon  these  and  hundreds 
of  other  transactions  of  a  like  nature,  we  sicken  at  the 
thought  of  that  deep  depravity  which  breaks  out  in 
such  a  malicious  persecution  of  men  for  opinion's  sake, 
which  has  no  parallel  in  modern  times. 

This  terrible  scourge  held  the  whole  people  of  Rhode 
Island  in  its  paralyzing  grasp  from  June  till  September, 
and  was  in  full  force  and  operation  for  more  than  half 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  181 

of  that  time.  A  fearful  espionage  watched  over  the 
whole  community.  Men  rose,  and  labored,  and  slept, 
made  their  vows  and  said  their  prayers,  nursed  their 
sick  and  buried  their  dead,  amid  its  impending  terrors, 
and  whilst  the  bloody  mantle  of  martial  law,  like  a 
funeral  pall  thrown  over  the  tomb  of  liberty,  cast  its 
dark  fold  over  every  corner  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island. 

16 


182  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTER    XII. 

COMMISSIONERS  APPOINTED  TO  EXAMINE  THE  PRISON 
ERS.  PROCEEDINGS.  MEASURES  TAKEN  TO  FORM 
ANOTHER  CONSTITUTION.  CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE 
AT  THE  TIME.  CONSTITUTION  DECLARED  ADOPTED. 

AT  an  adjourned  session  of  the  General  Assembly, 
held  at  Newport  in  June,  1842,  commissioners,  as  they 
were  called,  were  appointed,  whose  duty  was  to  hold 
courts  of  inquisition  upon  the  prisoners,  with  whom  the 
jails  were  crowded.  It  will  be  recollected  that  these 
prisoners  had  not  been  committed  upon  warrants,  but  by 
virtue  of  the  bayonet,  and  they  were  not  informed  of 
the  charges  to  which  they  would  be  required  to  an 
swer.  Each  commissioner,  like  some  grand  inquisitor, 
possessed  almost  absolute  power  over  every  prisoner 
brought  before  him.  The  prisoners  were  not  allowed 
counsel  or  witnesses,  but  each  man  was  adjured,  by  the 
terrors  of  the  bayonet  and  the  dungeon,  to  confess  his 
guilt  and  testify  against  himself.  Some  of  the  men, 
who  now  sat  as  judges  in  these  dread  tribunals,  had, 
less  than  one  year  before,  recorded  their  own  names  in 
favor  of  that  constitution  which  they  now  declared  ille 
gal,  and  its  support  treason.  A  large  number  of  pris 
oners,  after  having  been  kept  in  close  confinement  from 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  183 

five  or  six  days  to  as  many  weeks,  were  discharged,  be 
cause  their  judges  said  nothing  was  found  against  them. 
Yet  it  is  believed  that  in  most  instances,  as  a  condition 
of  their  release,  the  prisoners  were  required  to  engage 
to  support  the  charter  government.  Some  complied 
with  these  humiliating  terms,  and  others  spurned  them  ; 
and  a  large  number  of  prisoners  were  retained  in 
close  jail,  to  be  tried  for  treason.  Some  were  tried, 
found  guilty,  and  recommended  to  mercy  by  the  jury. 
Martin  Luther,  a  respectable  farmer  in  Warren,  in  the 
county  of  Bristol,  was  arrested  some  time  afterwards, 
and  found  guilty  of  acting  as  moderator  of  a  town 
meeting  held  under  the  people's  constitution,  and  sen 
tenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be  im 
prisoned  in  close  jail  six  months,  and  to  pay  all  costs  of 
prosecution.  This  sentence  was  carried  into  execution. 
Whoever  candidly  reflects  upon  the  history  which 
has  been  given  of  the  Rhode  Island  controversy,  must, 
we  think,  be  satisfied  of  the  following  facts  :  First, 
that  absolute  political  sovereignty  is  always  inherent 
in  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  that  this  prerog 
ative  is  before  and  paramount  to  all  constitutions  and 
civil  compacts,  and  that  the  right  to  its  exercise  can 
never  be  suspended  by  any  means  whatever ;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  in  the  exercise  of  that  right,  did,  in  the  month 
of  December,  1841,  ratify  and  adopt  a  democratic  con 
stitution  for  the  government  of  the  state,  and  that  also, 
in  accordance  with  that  constitution,  a  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  state  did,  in  1842,  organize  and  set  up 
such  a  government  as  the  constitution  of  the  United 


184  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

States  guarantees  to  every  state  in  the  Union;  and, 
lastly,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  government  so  organ 
ized  and  set  up,  and  so  guaranteed  by  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States,  was  crushed  out  and  suppressed 
by  the  combined  forces  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island 
and  the  United  States. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1842,  while  martial  law  was 
in  full  operation,  the  prisons  filled  with  its  victims,  and 
the  whole  population  of  the  state  shook  as  with  an 
ague,  while  the  adjacent  states  were  thronged  with 
exiles  who  had  fled  from  the  fiery  indignation  of  their 
barbarous  pursuers,  and  while  any  one  who  should  de 
clare  himself  in  favor  of  the  people's  constitution  would 
be  immediately  consigned  to  a  dungeon,  the  General 
Assembly  issued  a  call  for  a  convention  to  form  a  con 
stitution.  It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  General 
Assembly  could  not,  by  force  of  law,  take  any  initiatory 
steps  towards  forming  a  constitution,  and  also  that  that 
body  solemnly  declared,  by  the  mouth  of  their  com 
mittee,  in  1829,  that  the  legislature  could  not,  and 
would  not,  do  any  thing  in  the  premises,  and  that  no 
constitution  before  or  since  the  revolution  had  been 
formed,  or  could  be  formed,  more  free  and  popular  than 
that  under  which  the  people  then  lived. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  General  Assembly  now, 
for  the  first  time,  ascertained  that  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations  had  no  constitution, 
and  therefore  thought  proper  that  immediate  steps 
should  be  taken  to  establish  one.  They  considered  it 
expedient  that  the  work  should  be  commenced  forth 
with  ;  they  believed  that  to  be  a  favorable  time  for  the 


THOMAS    WILSON    DOUR.  185 

undertaking,  when  their  own  sabres  gleamed  and  their 
own  cannon  roared  in  unison  with  those  of  the  national 
executive.  Now,  when  they  had  their  iron  heels  upon 
the  necks  of  the  people,  they  deemed  it  a  most  favor 
able  time  to  induce  them  humbly  to  accept  a  constitu 
tion  as  a  special  boon  from  the  General  Assembly,  fear 
ing  that  when  they  came  to  be  released  from  duress, 
they  might  revive  again  their  own  constitution,  which 
lay  crushed  beneath  the  weight  of  arms.  Therefore 
the  General  Assembly  proceeded  to  request  all  such  of 
the  people  as  possessed  certain  qualifications  to  meet  in 
their  respective  towns  011  the  8th  day  of  August,  and 
vote  for  delegates  to  meet  in  convention  and  form  a 
constitution.  Pursuant  to  that  request,  meetings  were 
held  and  delegates  elected,  who  afterwards  met  in  con 
vention,  and  drew  up  a  constitution,  which  was  sub 
mitted  .  to  such  of  the  people  as  were  permitted  to  vote 
under  its  provisions.  The  voting  took  place  on  the  21st, 
22d,  and  23d  days  of  November,  1842.  The  act  of  the 
General  Assembly  placing  the  state  under  martial  law 
had  not  been  repealed,  and  proceedings  under  it  had 
only  been  suspended  by  proclamation  of  the  governor, 
who  might  also,  at  any  moment  by  proclamation,  give  it 
vitality.  The  people  were  not  released  from  duress  ; 
they  durst  not  speak  freely  their  own  sentiments. 
Many  suffrage  men  were  still  in  exile,  and  others  were 
in  prison.  Large  rewards  were  offered  for  Mr.  Dorr, 
and  requisitions  were  continually  made  upon  the  gov 
ernors  of  the  neighboring  states  for  the  flying  fugitives. 
Under  such  circumstances,  the  voting  upon  the  proposed 
16* 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

constitution  took  place,  and  the  most  strenuous  exer 
tions  were  made  to  bring  out  a  large  vote  in  its  favor. 
On  counting  the  votes,  it  was  found  that  7024  had 
voted  in  favor  of  it,  and  51  against  it.  The  legislature 
therefore  proceeded  to  declare  the  constitution  adopted 
by  a  majority  of  6973  votes. 

Now,  it  will  be  recollected,  that  although  the  people's 
constitution  received  13,944  votes,  the  charter  govern 
ment  repeatedly  declared  in  their  General  Assembly, 
and  by  their  delegates  in  Congress,  that  it  had  not 
received  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  such  as  had  a  right 
to  vote  for  it,  and  therefore  it  could  not  be  considered  as 
an  expression  of  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of  the  whole 
people ;  but  now,  when  their  own  constitution  had 
received  but  one  half  that  number  of  votes,  the  General 
Assembly  proceeded  without  hesitation  to  declare  it  le 
gally  adopted.  And  yet,  at  the  very  first  session  of  the 
legislature,  under  that  constitution,  it  was  found  that 
16,5£0  votes  had  been  polled  for  general  officers.  This, 
shows  as  plainly  as  figures  can  show,  that  the  last  con 
stitution  received  only  the  votes  of  a  minority. 

Without  taking  into  consideration  the  comparative 
merits  of  the  two  constitutions,  we  will  barely  remark 
that  the  people's  constitution  received  the  votes  of  full 
two  thirds  of  all  who  had  a  right  to  vote  upon  that 
occasio-n,  and  the  present  constitution  received  only  the 
votes  of  one  third  of  such  as  were  qualified  to  vote  for 
it ;  and  with  these  observations  we  leave  the  public  to 
decide  which  of  the  two  constitutions  in  question  was 
the  free  and  voluntary  choice  of  the  people* 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  187 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  votes  polled 
in  each  town  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  on  the  27th, 
28th,  and  29th  of  December,  1841,  for  the  people's  con 
stitution. 

Votes  in  the  City  of  Providence. 

Qualified.  Not  qualified.    Against           Total 

Ward  1,                       162  362 

Ward  2,                       88  384 

Ward  3,                      165  472 

Ward  4,                      142  357 

Ward  5,                      248  515 

Ward  6,                     255  306  3556 

Smithfield,                 381  336  1            1338 

Cumberland,               293  599  892 

Burrillville,                 134  149  283 

Glooester,                   192  210  402 

Foster,                        124  113  1             238 

Scituate,                     208  316  524 

Johnson,                     136  210  346 

North  Providence,    221  472  13             706 

Cranston,                    159  241  400 

Warwick,                   308  587  895 

Coventry,                   157  249  406 

East  Greenwich,          50  85  6              141 

West  Greenwich,         17  45  62 

North  Kingstown,       84  169  253 

South  Kingstown,     138  137  10             285 

Exeter,                         52  82  134 

Richmond,                   44  88  132 

Charlestown,                64  36  100 

Hopkinton,                   81  81  13              175 

Westerly,                    107  144  1              252 

Newport,                    317  890  1207 

Middletown,                  8  22  30 

Portsmouth,                 67  59  126 

Jamestown,                   18  13  31 


188  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES  OF 

Total, 


Qualified. 

Not  qualified. 

Against. 

New  Shoreham, 

102 

30 

Tiverton, 

102 

172 

3 

Little  Compton, 

19 

25 

17 

Bristol, 

151 

218 

Warren, 

103 

106 

1 

Barrington, 

28 

24 

277 

61 

369 

210 

52 


Total,  13,944 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  189 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

HIS  ARREST  AND  IMPRISONMENT. 
TRIAL.  CONVICTION.  SPEECH.  SENTENCE.  REMOVAL 
TO  STATE  PRISON. 

LEAVING  for  a  time  the  desultory  history  of  affairs  in 
Ehode  Island,  we  will  return  to  Mr.  Dorr.  As  has 
been  shown,  he  left  Chepatchet  in  the  evening  of  the 
27th  of  June,  1842.  He  well  knew  that  a  spirit  of 
deadly  hostility  had  been  excited  against  him,  and  sup 
posed  that  his  enemies,  emboldened  by  his  flight,  would 
cry  aloud  for  blood.  In  this  he  was  not  mistaken.  As 
soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  he  had  left  the  state, 
Governor  King  issued  his  proclamation,  offering  a  re 
ward  of  five  thousand  dollars  for  his  apprehension ;  but 
the  chief  magistrates  of  the  neighboring  states  protected 
him  from  the  fury  of  his  mercenary  pursuers.  The 
Hon.  Henry  Hubbard,  then  governor  of  the  State  of 
New  Hampshire,  gave  the  exiled  patriot  a  cordial  wel 
come.  Here  Mr.  Dorr  found  a  safe  asylum  from  the 
fury  of  his  mad  pursuers.  The  bosom  of  that  illustri 
ous  chief  magistrate  glowed  with  true  patriotic  fire  — 
his  purpose  was  firm  as  his  own  granite  hills,  and  his 
heart  as  pure  as  the  snowy  mantle  which  covered  their 
sides  —  unborn  generations  will  bless  his  memory  for 
the  noble  deed. 


190  THE    LIFE    AND     TIMES    OF 

Democracy  had  fallen  in  Rhode  Island ;  the  funda 
mental  principles  upon  which  the  American  govern 
ments  are  based  had  been  publicly  violated,  and  the 
power  of  an  oligarchy  established  by  the  bayonet.  Mr. 
Dorr  remained  a  voluntary  exile,  hoping  that  the  camp 
fires  of  his  exulting  enemies  would  at  length  be  extin 
guished,  and  peace  and  quiet  be  so  far  restored  as  to 
allow  him  to  return  unmolested  to  his  native  state,  and 
the  bosom  of  his  anxious '  friends.  Confiding  too  much 
in  the  honor  and  magnanimity  of  his  conquerors,  after 
an  absence  of  nearly  one  and  a  half  years,  he  concluded 
to  return  to  his  native  city.  Accordingly,  on  the  last 
day  of  October,  1843,  in  the  capacity  of  a  quiet  citizen, 
he  arrived  in  Providence,  and  entered  his  name  at  the 
City  Hotel.  Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Dorr  was  arrested  by 
an  officer  upon  the  charge  of  treason  against  the  State 
of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  and  thrust 
into  jail  in  Providence,  where  he  was  kept  in  close  con 
finement  until  Thursday,  the  29th  of  February,  1844, 
when  he  was  removed  to  the  jail  at  Newport,  in  which 
county  it  had  been  decided  that  his  trial  should  take 
place.  Contrary  to  the  common  law  of  England  and 
the  United  States,  and  in  violation  of  every  principle  of 
justice  and  humanity,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
of  Rhode  Island  decreed  that  the  prisoner  should  be 
tried  in  a  county  in  which  he  was  a  stranger,  where  it 
was  known  that  almost  every  man  was  his  avowed 
enemy,  away  from  all  his  friends  and  his  witnesses,  and 
contrary  to  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  prisoner  and 
his  counsel. 

We  would  not  rashly  impugn  the  motives  of  a  high 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORK.  191 

judicial  tribunal,  or  seek  to  strip  its  incumbents  of  their 
consecrated  ermine ;  yet  experience  has  taught  us  that 
the  frailties  and  passions  common  to  all  men  —  the 
same  love  and  the  same  hate  —  the  same  motives  of  in 
terest  and  the  same  feelings  of  revenge  —  may  find  their 
way  to  the  forum,  and  sit  ensconced  beneath  the  judi 
cial  robe.  We  would  not  be  too  uncharitable,  but  leave 
every  reader  to  form  his  own  opinion  of  the  justice  of 
the  proceedings  against  Mr.  Dorr. 

On  the  £6th  of  April,  1844,  nearly  two  years  after 
the  alleged  offence  was  committed  —  after  a  written 
constitution  had  been  adopted,  and  a  government 
quietly  organized  under  it — when  nothing  at  home  or 
abroad  threatened  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  state  — 
Mr.  Dorr  was  taken  from  the  prison  at  Newport,  and 
brought  before  the  Supreme  Court  to  be  tried  for  trea 
son.  He  pleaded  not  guilty  to  the  charge,  and  Samuel 
Y.  Atwell  and  George  Turner,  Esqrs.,  were  engaged  as 
his  counsel.  The  first  motion  which  his  counsel  made 
to  the  court  was  for  a  compulsory  process  for  witnesses 
for  the  respondent,  as  Mr.  Dorr  had  already  exhausted 
all  his  own  means,  and  was  unable  to  pay  the  witnesses 
he  wished  to  summon.  But  the  court  refused  to  grant 
the  application  in  the  following  words  :  "  The  accused 
possesses  the  means  to  employ  counsel ;  it  is  to  be  pre 
sumed  that  he  is  also  able  to  pay  his  witnesses  for  their 
attendance  ;  the  motion  therefore  cannot  be  granted." 

Mr.  Dorr  stood  before  the  court  penniless  and  a 
stranger,  his  friends  and  witnesses  were  far  away,  and 
yet  the  court  refused  to  grant  him  a  privilege  that  is 
always  allowed  to  the  vilest  malefactor. 


192  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

At  the  time  that  the  court  removed  Mr.  Dorr  from 
Providence  to  Newport  for  trial,  it  was  well  known  to 
every  one  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  county  entertained 
the  most  violent  prejudices  against  him.  Under  the 
charter  the  town  of  Newport  had  six  representatives  in 
the  General  Assembly,  and  Providence  four,  so  that  in 
1840  Newport  had  one  representative  for  every  thou 
sand  of  her  population,  and  Providence  one  representa 
tive  for  every  ten  thousand.  Newport  was  jealous  of 
Providence,  and  always  opposed  every  effort  which  was 
made  to  break  up  the  old  order  of  things,  and  deprive 
the  inhabitants  of  that  section  of  their  prescriptive 
rights.  Such  were  the  feelings  of  the  people  from 
which  a  jury  was  to  be  taken  to  try  Mr.  Dorr.  All 
were  strangers  to  him,  and  if  there  were  any  unpreju 
diced  men  among  them,  Mr.  Dorr  had  no  means  of 
knowing  it.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  give  a  history  of 
the  empanelling  of  the  jury ;  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that 
twelve  men  were  found  who  solemnly  declared  that 
they  had  formed  no  opinion  as  to  the  guilt  or  innocence 
of  the  prisoner ;  and  the  reader  can  believe  them  if  he 
choose.  When  we  consider  that  this  exciting  question 
had  been  before  the  people  of  the  whole  state  for  two 
years,  and  had  been  repeatedly  and  warmly  discussed 
in  every  neighborhood  and  in  every  family,  is  it  possi 
ble  to  suppose  that  any  sane  man  had  not  formed  any 
opinion  in  the  matter  ?  After  the  verdict  was  rendered, 
Mr.  Dorr's  counsel  offered  to  prove  to  the  court  that 
three  or  four  of  the  jurors  composing  the  panel  which 
convicted  him,  had  expressed  their  opinions  in  strong 
terms  against  the  prisoner  previous  to  the  trial ;  yet  the 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  193 

court  refused  to  go  into  the  investigation,  since  the  trial 
was  finished,  and  the  verdict  was  satisfactory  to  the 
court. 

In  the  commencement  of  the  trial,  the  points  offered 
for  the  defence  were  the  following  :  — 

1.  That,  in  this  country,  treason  is  an  offence  against 
the  United  States  only,  and  cannot  be  committed  against 
an  individual  State. 

2.  That  the  4th  section  of  the  act  of  Rhode  Island  of 
March,    1842,   entitled   "An    act   relating  to   offences 
against  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state,"  is  unconstitu 
tional  and  void,  as  destructive  of  the  common-law  right 
of  trial  by  jury,  which  was  a  fundamental  part  of  the 
English  constitution  at  the  declaration  of  independence, 
and  has  ever  since  been  a  fundamental  law  in  Rhode 
Island. 

3.  That  that  act,  if  constitutional,  gives  this  court  no 
jurisdiction  to  try  this  indictment  in  the  county  of  New 
port  —  all  the  overt  acts  being  therein  charged  as  com 
mitted  in  the  county  of  Providence. 

4.  That  the  defendant  acted  justifiably,  as  governor 
of  the  state,  under  a  valid  constitution  rightfully  adopt 
ed,  which  he  was  sworn  to  support. 

5.  %That  the  evidence  does  not  support  the  charge  of 
treasonable  and  criminal  intent  in  the  defendant. 

The  fourth  was  'that  upon  which  the  defendant  chiefly 
relied  ;  but  the  court  decided  that  proof  upon  that  point 
was  inadmissible,  and  ruled  the  other  points  against  the 
prisoner.  The  whole  trial,  from  its  beginning  to  its 
termination,  lasted  nearly  four  weeks,  and  the  defence 
was  ably  conducted  by  Mr.  Dorr  himself,  and  his  coun 
sel,  George  Turner  and  Samuel  Y.  Atwell,  Esqrs. 

Throughout  this  trial  the  court  appears  to  have  had 
17 


194  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

only  one  single  object  in  view,  and  that  was  the  con 
viction  of  Mr.  Dorr.  They  not  only  refused  to  allow 
him  to  introduce  testimony  to  show  that  he  acted  under 
the  authority  of  a  valid  constitution,  and  without  any 
criminal  intentions,  but  they  also  refused  to  hear  the 
motion  argued  to  the  court,  and  positively  decided  that 
the  jury  had  nothing  to  do  but  find  that  the  prisoner 
had  committed  the  acts  charged  against  him,  and  could 
not  inquire  into  his  motives.  Now,  we  have  been 
taught  that  a  wicked  intention  was  necessary  to  consti 
tute  crime,  and  that  bare  acts,  without  any  wrong  in 
tent,  were  not  in  themselves  criminal ;  but  the  court 
appear  to  have  adopted  a  different  rule  for  that  special 
occasion,  because  it  is  easy  to  show  that  the  same  court, 
both  before  and  since  that  trial,  have  uniformly  held, 
that  "  actus  non  facit  reum,nisi  mens  sit  rea  "  should  be 
regarded  as  an  established  principle  in  American  juris 
prudence,  and  have  always  allowed  the  accused  to 
show,  if  they  could,  that,  in  doing  the  acts  charged 
against  them,  they  did  not  intend  to  commit  a  felony. 
But  if  the  rule  adopted  in  the  trial  of  Mr.  Dorr  should 
be  observed  in  other  criminal  prosecutions,  no  one 
would  be  safe.  The  man  who  should  ignorantly  and 
innocently  pass  a  spurious  bill,  believing  it  to  be  genu 
ine,  would  be  liable  to  be  punished  as  a  counterfeiter  ; 
and  any  one  who  should  have  the  misfortune  to  kill 
another  by  accident,  or  in  self-defence,  would  be  liable 
to  suffer  like  the  most  atrocious  murderer. 

Whilst  the  motion  of  the  prisoner's  counsel  to  be 
heard  by  the  court  was  pending,  the  following  dialogue 
took  place  :  — 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  195 

Judge  Staples.  —  I  am  opposed  to  a  re-argument  of  this 
question  at  the  present  time,  in  the  course  of  a  jury 
trial.  I  am  willing  to  hear  it  re-argued  when  the  court 
are  at  leisure. 

Judge  Haile.  —  Nor  am  I  disposed  to  hear  a  re-argu 
ment  during  the  trial,  when  this  question  has  once  been 
solemnly  settled.  At  a  proper  time,  it  can  be  heard. 
But  it  ought  not  to  be  heard  in  the  hurry  of  a  jury  trial. 

Mr.  Dorr.  —  It  falls  strangely  upon  the  ear  of  a  man 
in  my  position,  when  I  hear  the  judge  of  a  court,  in  a 
'case  of  this  kind,  and  involving  principles  of  such 
moment,  make  use  of  an  expression  like  this  —  the 
"  hurry  "  of  this  trial.  I  must  be  hurried  through  to 
judgment,  then,  without  a  hearing ;  and  after  convic 
tion  I  may  be  heard  !  Is  the  liberty  or  the  life  of  a  man 
to  be  disposed  of  in  this  way  ?  If  there  are  any  reasons 
why  a  conviction  should  not  take  place,  why  should 
they  not  be  heard  now  ?  What  reparation  is  it,  after 
conviction,  to  hear  the  reasons  why  it  was  unjust  ?  This 
is,  literally,  according  to  a  common  observation,  hanging 
a  man  first,  and  trying  him  afterwards. 

"We  are  surprised,  also,  when,  in  the  midst  of  a  trial 
which  was  to  consign  an  individual  to  a  dungeon  for 
life,  or  pronounce  him  innocent,  a  judge  of  that  court, 
sitting  under  the  solemnity  of  his  oath,  declares,  "  I 
have  no  doubt  of  the  purity  of  the  motives  of  the  defend 
ant.  This  is  the  view  I  have  always  taken,"  and  yet 
refuses  to  allow  the  defendant  to  introduce  testimony  to 
satisfy  the  jury  of  the  same  fact.  The  court  are  satis 
fied  that  the  defendant  was  not  guilty  of  any  criminal 
intentions,  but  they  will  not  allow  him  to  submit  the 
proof  of  his  innocence  to  the  jury.  When  we  consider 
the  character  of  the  jury  and  the  extraordinary  rulings 
of  the  court  in  this  extraordinary  case,  the  whole  trans- 


196  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

action  appears  to  us  like  a  solemn  farce  —  a  mere 
mockery,  very  similar  to  hundreds  of  others  which  his 
tory  informs  us  have  heretofore  taken  place  in  Europe. 
The  following  is  a  brief  extract  from  the  closing 
address  of  Mr.  Dorr  to  the  jury.  He  gave  a  frank  and 
manly  history  of  the  suffrage  party,  and  of  his  own 
conduct  in  connection  with  it,  and  made  no  attempt  to 
disguise  or  deny  any  thing,  but  freely  and  boldly  con 
fessed  much  more  than  the  government  had  been  able' 
to  prove. 

Closing  Remarks  of  Mr.  Dorr. 

After  Mr.  Turner  had  concluded  his  summing  up 
upon  the  evidence,  Mr.  Dorr  addressed  the  jury  for 
three  hours  in  the  close  of  the  defence.  The  following 
is  a  summary  of  his  remarks  :  — 

Having  addressed  to  the  court  all  he  had  to  say  on 
the  subject  of  treason,  (which  he  had  contended  was  an 
offence  against  the  United  States,  without  admitting 
that  any  such  offence  had,  in  this  instance,  been  com 
mitted,)  he  now  turned  to  the  jury,  and  thanked  them 
for  the  patience  which  they  had  thus  far  manifested  in 
attending  to  the  proceedings  of  a  trial  necessarily  pro 
tracted  beyond  the  usual  length.  Although  the  dura 
tion  of  the  trial  had  been  more  than  once  alluded  to  by 
one  of  the  honorable  court,  he  desired  to  assure  them 
that  he  had  not  intentionally  trespassed  on  their  time. 
Much  of  it  had  unavoidably  been  spent  in  empan 
elling  the  jury,  which,  in  a  case  of  this  moment,  could 
not  be  hastily  done.  The  defendant  had  a  right  by  law 
to  twenty  peremptory  challenges  ;  and  a  large  number 
of  those  who  had  been  called  as  jurors  had  disqualified 
themselves  as  they  were  called,  by  replying  to  the 
questions  proposed  to  them,  that  they  had  formed  and 
expressed  an  opinion  upon  the  charges  laid  in  the  in- 


THOMAS   WILSON   CORE.  197 

dictment,  rendering  it  necessary  to  issue  new  process 
for  summoning  an  additional  number.  It  would  also  be 
recollected  that  the  defendant  had  been  brought  here 
from  the  county  to  which  he  belonged,  professedly  for 
a  more  impartial  trial,  and  among  those  with  whom  he 
was  but  little  acquainted,  and  whose  qualifications  and 
opinions  could  not  be  investigated  and  ascertained  with 
out  special  inquiry,  which  it  had  been  sometimes  neces 
sary  to  make  through  witnesses,  to  whom  the  jurors 
were  better  known  than  to  himself.  The  jurors  now 
empanelled  had  severally  responded,  under  their  oaths, 
that  they  had  neither  formed  nor  expressed  an  opinion 
upon  the  matters  now  in  issue  \  and  only  through  their 
avowed  impartiality  could  the  object  be  obtained  for 
which  the  case  had  been,  in  this  unusual  manner,  -re 
moved  from  the  county  where  the  offence  was  charged 
to  have  been  committed,  into  another,  which  had  been 
equally  pervaded  by  the  political  feelings  and  discus 
sions  which  had  pervaded  the  whole  state  in  the  event 
ful  period  of  1842. 

As  so  much  had  been  said  about  foreign  notions  and 
foreign  interference,  it  was  proper  for  him  to  remind 
them  that  he  was  no  stranger  in  their  midst.  He  had 
not  come  here  from  abroad  to  proclaim  new  and  strange 
words,  at  war  with  the  original  doctrines  upon  which 
our  government  was  established.  He  was  a  native  citi 
zen  of  Rhode  Island ;  and  a  portion  of  those  from 
whom  he  claimed  descent  had  been  among  the  earlier 
settlers  of  the  state.  He  was  by  birth,  and  still  more, 
he  trusted,  in  principle  and  feeling,  a  Rhode  Island 
man.  He  did  not  stand  before  them  as  an  alien  to  the 
common  inheritance ;  and  he  was  ready  to  meet  his  op 
ponents  in  any  attempt  they  might  make  to  show  that 
his  efforts  had  been  directed  to  any  other  object  than 
the  reassertion  of  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  state,  and 
the  inherent  rights  of  the  people. 

The  case  now  presented  to  the  jury  is  one  of  no 
17* 


108  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

ordinary  importance,  and  is  not  lightly  to  be  disposed  of 
by  a  hasty  and  inconsiderate  judgment.  It  is  not  a 
matter  of  dollars  and  cents,  to  be  decided  by  an  average 
of  opinions,  but  a  question  affecting  the  rights  and 
freedom,  and,  to  all  intents,  the  life,  of  the  accused. 
The  sentence  consequent  upon  conviction  is  perpetual 
imprisonment,  with  the  attending  deprivation  of  the 
social  and  political  privileges  of  a  man  and  a  citizen  — 
an  infliction  which  might  induce  some  minds  to  prefer 
the  more  friendly  missive  of  the  military  tribunal.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  jury  to  contemplate  the  results  of  their 
verdict.  For  though  they  are  not  directly  responsible 
for  the  law,  and  sit  here  not  to  make,  but  to  administer 
it,  they  may  well  be  inspired,  when  they  regard  the 
personal  rights  which  are  now  put  in  issue,  with  a  sol 
emn  caution,  with  a  spirit  of  sincere  and  earnest  in 
quiry  ;  fearful  themselves  of  doing  a  greater  wrong 
than  that  which  is  alleged  against  the  individual  they 
are  called  upon  to  try,  and  bearing  in  mind  that  the 
justice  of  the  law  is  not  revenge,  and  insists  upon  no 
doubtful  constructions  of  the  acts  of  the  accused.  The 
jury  must  be  satisfied  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  not 
only  of  the  facts,  but  of  the  legal  meaning  and  purport 
of  the  facts ;  and  they  are  not  called  upon  to  offer  sac 
rifices  to  state  policy,  or  to  the  dignity  of  the  law.  At 
this  distance  of  time  from  the  date  of  the  transactions 
in  controversy,  a  more  dispassionate  and  candid  investi 
gation  was  to  be  expected  and  demanded. 

The  offence  charged  is  political — not  against  indi 
viduals,  but  against  the  state,  under  a  system  now  no 
longer  existing.  The  defendant  necessarily  does  not 
stand  alone.  He  acted  for  others.  In  trying  him,  you 
try  also  the  fourteen  thousand  citizens  who  voted  for 
the  people's  constitution  in  1841,  and  who,  if  there 
be  any  guilt  in  the  doctrines  of  '76,  are  equally  guilty 
with  him.  Nay,  more  :  you  will  try  the  principles  of 
the  American  government  and  the  rights  of  the  Amer- 


THOMAS   WILSON    DOKR»  199 

lean  people  ;  and  you  yourselves  will  in  turn  be  tried 
for  any  wounds  you  may  inflict  upon  American  liberty. 
You  are  not  sitting  here  in  one  corner  of  a  small  state, 
out  of  the  reach  of  observation ;  and  beware  that  no 
political  bias  incline  you  to  do  any  injustice  to  the 
defendant,  by  way  of  retribution  to  the  party  with  which 
he  is  connected ;  or  how  you  permit  yourselves  to  defeat 
the  ostensible  object  of  a  fairer  trial  in  the  removal  of 
this  case  ;  and  let  the  public  have  reason  to  believe 
that  it  has  been  more  fair  than  was  intended. 

The  opening  counsel  for  the  state  (Bos worth)  had 
not  been  satisfied  with  the  customary  epithets  which 
the  forms  of  indictment  bestow  on  those  who  are 
brought  within  the  pale  of  the  courts ;  but  he  had 
launched  out  into  the  language  of  vituperation  and 
calumny,  the  not  uncommon  substitutes  for  reasoning 
and  argument.  These  ebullitions  of  malignity  do  not 
so  much  indicate  the  character  of  the  object  upon  which 
they  are  poured,  as  the  condition  of  the  source  from 
which  they  spring.  Real  valor  never  seeks  to  magnify 
itself  by  depreciating  the  character  of  those  who  have 
been  overcome  by  the  fortune  of  the  day,  and  avoids 
all  questionable  exultation.  An  honorable  mind,  in  a 
great  political  controversy  like  this  between  the  two 
parties  of  the  state,  conscious  itself  of  good  motives, 
will  be  slow  to  impute  the  reverse  to  a  fair  and  open 
political  opponent.  The  coarse  remarks  of  the  assistant 
to  the  prosecutor  are  left  to  you,  with  all  the  weight  to 
which  they  are  entitled.  If  he  be  not  ashamed  of  them, 
they  may  cause  some  of  his  friends  to  be  ashamed  of 
him. 

Without  any  proof  that  it  was  known  at  the  time  to 
the  defendant,  the  aid  of  the  prosecutor  has  laid  much 
stress  on  the  fact  that  some  of  his  relatives,  by  law  or 
blood,  were  found  in  array  against  him  on  the  17th  of 
May,  1842 ;  and  it  is  insinuated,  by  way  of  arousing 
the  prejudices  of  the  jury,  that  the  object  of  the 


200  THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  Of 

defendant  was  the  destruction  of  his  own  relatives  and 
friends.  In  reply  to  this  false  and  malicious  charge, 
Mr.  Dorr  said,  that,  in  periods  of  excitement,  it  might 
happen,  and  sometime*  did  happen.,  to  those  who  were 
near,  and  painfully  to  those  who  are  also  dear  to  each 
other,  to  be  widely  separated.,  eye»  to-  ths  conflict  of 
war.  He  stood  almost  alone  in  his  political  opinions 
among  those  who  were  connected  with  him  by  blood. 
Without  consulting  interests,  he  had  asked  for  himself 
what  was-  right,  and  pursued  it.  If  his  views  of  the 
sovereignty  and  action  of  the  people  were  eorrect,  then 
they  who  placed  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  gov 
ernment,  and  attempted  to  prevent  the  recovery  of  the 
public  property,,  whether  strangers  or  relations,  did  so 
in  their  own  wrong,  and  might  with  equal  propriety  be 
said  to  have  been  bent  upon  his  own  particular  destruc 
tion.  He  left  them  to  their  motives,  and  claimed  re 
spect  for  his  own.  There  are  obligations  of  duty  from 
which  no  interest  or  consanguinity  can  furnish  a  dis 
charge.  Mr.  Dorr  said  that  he  was  not  aware  at  the 
time  that  any  person  related  to  him  was  engaged  in  the 
defence  of  the  arsenal ;  but,  from  what  had  fallen  from 
one  of  themr  he  had  supposed  that  he  intended  to  be. 
This  person  was  not  his  brother,  (now  absent  from  the 
country,)  whose  name  had  been  forced  in  here  with  a 
very  apparent  object,  and  who,  though  opposed  in  poli 
tics,  was  entirely  capable  of  appreciating  his  motives,. 
as  he  was  of  making  the  same  estimate  in  return.  But., 
if  he  had  been  aware  that  all  his  clan  were  enlisted 
against  the  law  and  constitution  of  the  state,  he  should 
not  have  been  deterred  from  discharging  the  oath  of 
duty  which  rested  upon  him. 

The  offence  charged  is  somewhat  of  a  vague  nature. 
What  is  levying  war  ?  It  is  not  a  gathering  of  men 
merely  with  arms  in  their  hands.  This  is  the  descrip 
tion  of  every  military  training  or  review.  Against 
whom  is  it  levied  ?  The  state.  Who  represented  the 


THOMAS  WILSOS    BOftK,  201 

state  at  tlie  time  in  Rhode  Island?  Which  was  the 
true  government  ?  or,  more  properly,  which  was  the 
government  ?  And,  again,  for  what  object  was  war 
levied,  if  at  all  ?  Was  it  for  any  lawless,  unjustifiable 
purpose,  or  in  defence  of  government,  and  the  most 
valued  rights  of  the  citizen  ?  Here  we  have,  in  addi 
tion  to  the  mere  question  of  fact,  Were  certain  things 
done,  or  not  ?  the  much  larger  and  more  important  ques 
tions  of  rights,  of  motives,  and  intentions.  The  indict 
ment  charges  that  the  acts  laid  in  it  were  maliciously 
and  traitorously  done.  To  constitute  a  levying  of  war, 
as  it  was  held  in  4  Cranch,  75,  &c.,  there  must  be  an 
assemblage  of  persons  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  by 
force  a  treasonable  purpose.  Enlistment  of  men  to 
serve  against  government  is  not  sufficient.  It  is  not 
treason,  it  thus  seems,  to  enlist  men  for  service,  even 
against  a  lawful  government  ;  much  less  is  it  to  enlist 
them  and  to  bring  them  into  service  against  an  unlawful 
one,  existing  by  usurpation,  and  contending  with  force 
against  that  by  which  it  has  been  rightfully  supplanted. 
You  will  also  bear  in  mind  the  admission  of  the  attor 
ney  general,  who  properly  stated,  in  the  outset  of  the 
case,  that  if  the  defendant  were  the  governor  of  the 
state,  he  had  a  right  to  do  what  he  did.  It  is  thus  per 
fectly  evident  that  the  true  question  essential  to  a  fair 
trial  is  that  of  rights  and  motives.  There  must  be  a 
treasonable  intent  in  the  levying  of  war,  to  constitute 
any  treason  at  all  ;  not  a  mere  knowledge  of  what  one 
is  about,  but  a  deliberate,  set  purpose  and  treason  of  the 
mind  \  as  in  cases  of  homicide,  the  act  may  be  murder, 
or  manslaughter,  or  no  offence  at  all,  according  to  cir 
cumstances  and  intentions. 

Mr.  Dorr  said  that,  in  the  argument  of  this  case,  he 
had  the  disadvantage  of  appearing  before  the  jury  with 
out  the  aid  of  his  principal  counsel,  Mr.  Atwell,  upon 
whom  he  had  relied  for  all  the  closing  arguments,  who 
had  been  overtaken  and  disabled  by  a  severe  illness  just 


THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 


before  the  commencement  of  the  case,  when  it  was  too 
lute  for  the  defendant  to  make  any  preparation.  While 
he  desired  to  acknowledge  the  zeal,  fidelity,  ability,  and 
industry  of  the  gentleman  who  assisted  him,  he  could 
not  but  feel  the  absence  of  a  counsellor  whose  legal 
eminence  and  eloquence,  practical  experience,  and  just 
weight  as  a  lawyer  in  this  court,  were  of  so  much  im 
portance  to  his  clients.  If  the  defendant  have  any  thing 
to  advance  in  his  own  favor,  it  will  be  said  to  come 
from  a  too  partial  source,  and  it  weighs  nothing. 
What  he  admits,  is  taken  strongly  against  him  ;  and 
what  he  may  say  concerning  himself,  may  be,  for  the 
most  part,  better  said  by  another. 

The  defence,  as  well  as  the  prosecution,  has  drawn 
out  upon  the  examination  of  witnesses  a  long  detail  of 
facts.  "  My  great  object,"  said  Mr.  Dorr,  "  has  been  to 
have  all  the  facts  of  the  case  correctly  ascertained  ;  to 
disabuse  it  of  all  the  falsehoods  and  calumnies  with 
which  it  has  been  invested  by  the  malignant  ingenuity 
of  political  enemies  $  and  to  disprove  all  the  pretended 
charges  that  have  been  so  often  repeated  against  myself, 
my  political  associates,  and  the  political  party  with  whom 
we  have  acted.  I  have  aided  by  questions  and  by  wit 
nesses  in  bringing  all  the  facts  to  light.  There  are,  and 
have  been,  no  secrets  in  the  cause  in  which  I  have  been 
engaged  ;  there  is  nothing,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  that 
might  not  safely  be  brought  to  the  light  of  day.  In 
August  last,  I  published,  over  my  own  name,  a  state 
ment  of  all  the  transactions  now  in  controversy,  from  be 
ginning  to  end,  which  was  generally  circulated  in  this 
state.  It  does  not  differ  perceptibly  from  the  present 
testimony.  I  am  willing  to  put  it  into  the  case,  as  a 
part  of  it,  if  the  prosecutor  do  not  object.  I  should 
have  been  willing  to  save  this  investigation  by  so  do 
ing  ;  but  it  was  not  for  the  defendant  to  prescribe  the 
mode  of  proceeding  by  the  pro'secutor,  who,  of  course, 
would  not  have  admitted  the  account  of  the  defendant 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  203 

to  be  correct,  and  expected  to  make  a  case  much  more 
favorable  to  his  own  side  of  the  question." 

And  here,  let  it  be  asked  of  common  candor  and 
fairness,  after  listening  to  the  testimony,  What  has  be 
come  of  the  shameful  and  groundless  imputation  con 
veyed  in  the  fabricated  watchword  of  "  beauty  and  the 
banks  ;  "  of  the  "  foreign  desperadoes,"  who  were  to 
plunder  and  burn  the  city  of  Providence,  and  to  invade 
the  domestic  purity  of  its  homes ;  of  the  intervention 
of  citizens  abroad  for  any  other  object  than  to  arrest 
the  unjustifiable  interference  of  the  president  with  state 
rights  ;  of  the  general  appropriation  of  private  prop 
erty  to  military  uses  ;  of  "  the  lawless  and  intemper 
ate  character  "  of  those  engaged  in  the  people's  cause ; 
of  the  "  forcible  enlistments  ;  "  of  the  "  state  scrip  ;  " 
of  the  "  sword  dyed  in  blood ;  "  of  the  "  waving  of 
the  torch  and  the  firing  of  the  gun  ;  "  and  the  hundred 
other  stories  and  inventions  that  were  got  up  by  polit 
ical  managers  and  editors  for  effect,  and  have  had  their 
day,  and  have  answered  all  that  was  expected  of  them  ? 
They  were,  no  doubt,  believed  by  some,  with  that  cre 
dulity  which  alarm  creates.  And  there  were  others  who 
availed  themselves  of  this  slight  pretence  to  go  over, 
and  basely  and  treacherously  abandon  the  cause  of  the 
people  to  the  enemy.  Henceforth,  let  the  retailers  of 
these  calumnies,  which  have  been  put  down  in  and  out 
of  court,  hold  their  peace. 

The  alleged  invasion  of  private  property  by  the  suf 
frage  men  at  Chepatchet,  of  which  so  much  had  been 
attempted  at  the  time  to  be  made  by  their  opponents, 
was  reduced  to  three  instances :  a  horse  borrowed,  used, 
and  returned ;  a  cow  taken  and  pai^  for ;  and  a  few 
boards  burned  on  the  hill ! 

The  question  was  asked,  whether  the  village  of  Che 
patchet,  the  day  after  it  was  left  by  the  suffrage  men, 
was  not  sacked  by  the  charter  troops.  But  this,  we 
were  told,  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  issue,  and  could 


204  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

not  be  gone  into.     It  was  irrelevant !     There  was  a  con 
trast  to  be  disclosed. 

"  Of  all  that  was  really  done  by  me,"  said  Mr.  Dorr, 
(aside  from  the  fabrications  alluded  to,)  "  or  that  I  had 
a  part  in  doing,  I  deny  nothing.  I  should  disdain  to 
make  such  a  denial  here  or  elsewhere,  to  preserve  either 
liberty  or  life."  Defendant  said  that  if  any  fact  had  not 
been  brought  out  in  the  testimony,  which  the  jury  were 
desirous  of  knowing,  and  which  was  within  his  knowl 
edge,  he  was  ready  to  state  it. 

"  My  defence  before  you,"  said  Mr.  Dorr,  "  is  a  jus 
tification  throughout.  What  I  did  I  had  a  right  to  do  ; 
having  been  duly  elected  governor  of  this  state  under  a 
rightfully  adopted  and  valid  republican  state  constitution, 
which  I  took  an  oath  to  support,  and  did  support  to  the 
best  of  the  means  placed  within  my  power." 

He  then  alluded  to  the  extraordinary  embarrassment 
in  which  he  was  placed  in  this  portion  of  the  defence, 
by  the  refusal  of  the  court  to  permit  him  to  make  good 
his  justification,  by  exhibiting  the  proofs  of  his  election 
as  governor,  and  the  proofs  of  the  adoption  of  the  peo 
ple's  constitution,  under  which  he  had  been  elected  ; 
the  votes  given  upon  it  having  been  brought  here  for 
the  express  purpose  of  authenticating  it  to  the  jury. 
Nor  was  he  permitted,  directly  or  otherwise,  than  in  in 
cidental  remarks,  to  maintain,  either  to  the  court  or  jury, 
the  right  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  upon  Amer 
ican  principles,  to  form  and  adopt  this  constitution  ;  nor 
to  argue  any  other  question  of  law  to  the  court  or  jury, 
than  whether  treason  be  an  offence  against  a  state  or 
against  the  United  States ;  nor  to  introduce  proofs  of 
his  election,  and  of  the  constitution,  to  repel  the  charge* 
of  malicious  and  traitorous  motives  :  nor  to  show  by 
authorities  that  the  jury  are,  in  capital  cases,  the  judges 
both  of  the  law  and  of  the  fact. 

It  was  with  extreme  surprise  and  regret  that  he  thus 
found  himself  debarred  from  his  true  defence.  The 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  £05 

facts  being  thus  plain  before  the  jury,  —  that  the  de 
fendant  had,  on  several  occasions,,  attempted  to  carry 
into  effect,  by  military  force,  the  constitution  and  gov 
ernment  of  the  people,  and  as  the  chief  magistrate  of 
the  state,  —  the  jury  will  very  naturally  ask,  How  did 
all  this  come  to  pass  ?  By  what  authority  did  the 
defendant  these  things  ?  The  reply  to  your  very  nat 
ural  inquiry  is  a  blank.  The  defendant  is  most  anxious 
to  proceed  before  you,  and  to  establish  all  these  rights ; 
but  he  is  not  permitted.  He  must  look  to  you  to  take 
care  of  them.  He  is  in  the  condition  of  the  mariner 
whose  bark  has  been  stripped  by  an  adverse  gale,  and 
who,  in  directing  his  course  to  the  land,  can  expect  to 
reach  it  only  with  the  aid  of  a  jury  mast. 

The  votes  that  were  cast  for  the  people's  constitution 
are  at  hand.  They  who  gave  them  are  not  far  off.  The 
acts  of  the  people's  legislature,  under  this  constitution, 
can  be  proved  in  a  moment.  These  and  the  unanswer 
able  proofs  that  popular  sovereignty  is  the  just  source 
of  government,  were  what  it  was  desired  to  lay  directly 
before  you.  By  the  refusal  of  the  court,  the  defendant 
feels  that  he  has  been  deprived  of  a  great  right,  and  that 
justice  has  been  denied  him.  Whether  the  doctrines 
on  which  the  republic  rests  be  admitted  here  or  not, 
they  are  unchangeably  the  same.  The  defendant  has  no 
desire  to  retract  his  subscription  to  them. 

Some  ages  ago,  a  natural  philosopher  was  accused 
and  silenced  before  the  inquisition  for  teaching  that  the 
earth  turned  on  its  axis.  As  he  retired,  after  his  forced 
confession  to  the  contrary,  from  the  presence  of  the 
officers  of  the  justice  of  that  day,  he  exclaimed,  "  Still 
it  turns !  "  and,  in  spite  of  all  opposition  of  false  phi 
losophy,  it  has  turned  ever  since.  There  are  other 
immutable  doctrines,  and  other  honest  convictions, 
which  cannot  be  forced  out  of  a  man  by  any  human 
process. 

18 


206  THE     LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

"  The  sun  will  not  rise,"-  said  Mr.  Dorr,  "  upon  any 
recantation  by  me  of  the  truths  of  '76,  or  of  any  one 
of  the  sound  principles  of  American  freedom. 

"  The  servants  of  a  righteous  cause  may  fail  or  fall  in 
the  defence  of  it.  It  may  go  down  ;  but  all  the  truth 
that  it  contains  is  indestructible,  and  will  be  treasured 
up  by  the  great  mass  of  our  countrymen. 

"  If  I  have  erred  in  this  Rhode  Island  question," 
said  Mr.  Dorr,  "  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  having  erred 
with  the  greatest  statesmen  and  the  highest  authorities, 
and  with  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  I  have  the  satisfaction  also  of  reflecting 
that  all  errors  of  judgment  here  will  be  corrected  by  the 
great  tribunal  of  public  opinion,  which  assures  to  all 
ultimate  and  impartial  justice." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  closing  argu 
ment  of  Mr.  Turner :  — 

After  all,  gentlemen,  who  is  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  ? 
and  how  came  he  now  before  you  for  trial  ?  Mr.  Dorr 
is  an  educated  gentleman,  of  the  most  respectable  family 
and  connections.  It  is  also  in  evidence  that  he,  per 
sonally,  has  stood  high  in  the  confidence  and  esteem  of 
his*  fellow-citizens.  He  has  represented  the  city  of 
Providence  in  the  General  Assembly.  At  the  time  he 
is  charged  with  having  levied  war  against  the  state,  he 
was  the  treasurer  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Soci 
ety,  and  had  in  his  hands  the  funds  of  that  institution 
to  a  large  amount.  He  was  a  commissioner  of  the  Scit- 
uate  Bank,  having  control  of  its  funds  and  securities, 
under  an  appointment  of  the  legislature ;  and  he  was 
president  of  the  school  committee  of  the  city  of  Provi 
dence.  It  appears  also,  that,  as  administrator  or  trus 
tee,  he  had  in  his  hands  large  amounts  of  the  property 
of  private  individuals.  During  the  troubles  that  fol 
lowed  the  affair  at  the  arsenal  —  the  destitution  of  men, 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  207 

arms,  ammunition,  provisions,  and  money  of  the  Che- 
patchet  campaign  —  during  his  protracted  exile  from 
the  state  —  did  Governor  Dorr  embezzle,  divert,  or 
misapply  these  funds,  or  a  farthing  of  them  ?  No,  gen 
tlemen  ;  as  is  shown  by  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Burgess, 
he  guarded  the  whole  with  the  most  scrupulous  care, 
guided  by  the  highest  sense  of  honor,  and  placed  them, 
undiminished,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  perils  which 
environed  his  own  position.  With  this  evidence  before 
you,  does  he  carry  about  with  him  any  of  the  marks  of 
that  rowdyism  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much  ?  Have 
not  his  whole  course  of  life,  his  sentiments,  and  his 
actions,  been  such  as  to  free  him  from  the  imputation  of 
having,  in  any  thing,  been  governed  by  other  motives 
than  a  desire  and  a  zeal  for  the  best  interests  of  his  fel 
low-citizens  and  of  the  state? 

It  has  been  urged  by  the  opening  counsel  for  the 
state,  that  the  prisoner,  taking  counsel  from  his  fears  at 
Chepatchet,  ran  away  from  the  state.  It  would  have 
been  an  act,  not  of  wisdom  or  courage,  but  of  the  wild 
est  folly,  for  Mr.  Dorr  to  have  bared  his  devoted  head 
to  the  whirlwind  of  popular  fury  that  then  swept  over 
the  state;  or,  under  legislative  martial  law,  to  have 
confided  his  fate  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  drum  head 
court  martial.  But  when  the  tempest  had  apparently 
passed  over  —  when  the  excitement  had  become  some 
what  allayed  by  time  —  when  martial  law  no  longer  fet 
tered  the  legal  tribunals  of  the  state  —  he  came  volun 
tarily  back  to  the  state,  and  submitted  himself  to  its  tri 
bunals.  He  came,  (when  large  rewards  failed  to  bring 
him,)  because  this  was  his  native  state  —  his  home  — 
and  because  he  expected,  and  had  a  right  to  expect,  that 
he  should  be  tried  by  a  jury  of  his  peers  of  the  vici 
nages  amongst  whom  he  had  always  lived,  and  for  whose 
benefit  alone  he  bad  acted.  He  is  now  in  your  hands  ; 
and  I  repeat,  gentlemen,  that,  in  deciding  on  his  case, 
you  may  decide  upon  your  own  fate  and  that  of  your 


208  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

posterity;  your  decision  may  involve  the  fate  of  Ameri 
can  freedom  —  nay,  of  civil  liberty  itself. 

Finally,  gentlemen,  if  the  evidence  to  which  I  have 
directed  your  attention  should  fail  to  satisfy  your  minds 
fully  as  to  the  purity  of  the  prisoner's  intentions,  and 
the  absence  of  treasonable  design  on  his  part,  and  doubts 
remain  on  the  subject,  you  are  bound  (and  will  be  so 
instructed  by  the  court)  to  throw  those  doubts  into  the 
scale  of  the  prisoner,  and  return  a  verdict  of  acquittal. 
I  now  leave  him  with  you,  under  the  conviction  that 
the  moment  you  take  his  life  and  liberty  into  your 
hands,  you,  at  the  same  time,  commit  your  characters 
through  life,  and  your  memories  after  death,  to  the 
award  and  decision  of  the  great  tribunal  of  public  opin 
ion  ;  and  I  hope  and  trust  that  at  its  hands  you  may 
receive  that  justice  which,  in  behalf  of  the  prisoner,  I 
claim  at  your  hands. 

When  all  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  prisoner 
were  finished,  Chief  Justice  Durfee  delivered  a  lengthy 
charge  to  the  jury,  after  which  they  retired,  and  soon 
returned  and  pronounced  their  verdict  of  guilty. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  Mr.  Dorr  was  brought  into 
court  for  sentence,  and  when  he  was  asked  by  the  court 
if  he  had  any  thing  to  say  why  sentence  should  not  be 
pronounced  against  him,  replied  as  follows  :  — 

The  court  have,  through  their  officer,  addressed  to 
the  defendant  the  usual  question,  whether  he  have  any 
thing  to  say  why  sentence  should  not  now  be  pro 
nounced  upon  him.  I  have  something  to  say,  which 
shall  rj.e  brief  and  intelligible  to  the  court,  though  it 
must  be  necessarily  unavailing.  Without  seeking  to 
bring  myself  in  controversy  with  the -court,  I  am  de 
sirous  to  declare  to  you  the  plain  truth. 

I  am  bound,  in  duty  to  myself,  to  express  to  you  my 


THOMAS   WILSON  DORR. 

deep  and  solemn  conviction  that  I  have  not  received  at 
your  hands  the  fair  trial  by  an  impartial  jury,  to  which, 
by  law  and  justice,  I  was  entitled. 

The  trial  has  been  permitted  to  take  place  in  a  county 
where,  to  say  the  least,  it  was  doubtful  whether  the 
defendant  could  be  tried  according  to  the  law  of  the 
state  ;  and  in  a  case  of  doubt  like  this,  he  ought  to 
have  had  the  benefit  of  it,  especially  as  the  trial  here 
must  be  in  a  county  to  which  the  defendant  was  a 
stranger,  in  the  midst  of  his  most  excited  political 
opponents. 

All  but  one  of  those  freeholders,  (one  hundred  and 
eight  in  number,)  who  were  summoned  here  for  the 
purpose  of  selecting  a  jury  to  try  the  defendant,  were  of 
the  opposite  party  in  the  state,  and  were  deliberately 
set  against  the  defendant  with  the  feelings  of  partisan 
hostility.  The  single  democratic  juror  was  set  aside  for 
having  expressed  an  opinion.  Of  the  drawn  jurors, 
sixteen  in  number,  two  only  were  members  of  the  dem 
ocratic  party ;  and  one  of  them  for  cause,  and  the  other 
for  alleged  cause,  was  removed. 

Every  one  of  the  jury  finally  selected  to  try  the  de 
fendant  was,  of  course,  a  political  opponent.  And  even 
as  so  constituted,  the  jury  were  not  permitted  to  have 
the  whole  case  presented  to  their  consideration.  They 
were  not  —  as  ia  capital,  if  not  in  all  criminal,  cases 
they  are  entitled  to  be  — -  permitted  to  judge  of  the  law 
and  of  the  fact.  The  defendant  and  his  counsel  were 
not  permitted  to  argue  to  the  jury  any  matter  of  law. 

The  court  refused  to  hear  the  law  argued  to  them 
selves,  except  on  the  question  whether  treason  be  an 
offence  against  a  state  or  against  the  United  States. 

The  court  refused  to  permit  the  defendant  to 'justify 
himself  by  proving  the  constitution,  the  election,  and 
the  authority  under  which  he  acted ;  or  to  permit  him 
to  produce  the  same  proofs,  in  order  to  repel  the  charges 
of  malicious  and  traitorous  motives  made  in  the  indict- 
18* 


210  THE   LIFE   A5TD   TIMES   OF 

ment,  and  zealously  urged  against  him  by  the  counsel 
for  the  state. 

By  the  charge  of  the  judge,  the  jury  were  instructed 
that  the  only  question  which  they  had  to  try  was, 
whether  the  defendant  intended  to  do  the  acts  which  he 
performed  —  a  question  of  capacity  rather  than  of  mo 
tives  and  intentions. 

It  is  true  that  the  jury  were  absent  more  than  two 
hours  ;  but  not  for  deliberation.  One  of  them  was 
asked,  immediately  after  the  verdict  was  delivered  and 
the  jury  was  discharged,  whether  they  had  been  de 
tained  by  any  disagreement.  He  replied,  "  We  had 
nothing  to.  do.  The  court  had  made  every  thing  plain 
for  us." 

On  hearing  a  bill  of  exceptions  to  the  verdict  thus 
rendered,  the  court  promptly  overruled  all  the  points 
of  law. 

The  court  also  denied  to  the  defendant  an  oppor 
tunity  of  showing  to  them  that  three  of  the  jurors,  be 
fore  they  were  empanelled,,  manifested  strong  feelings, 
and  had  made  use  of  vindictive  and  hostile  expressions 
against  him  personally,  after  the  defendant  had  estab 
lished  by  his  affidavit  the  fact  that  he  was  not  informed 
of  this  hostility  of  feeling  and  expression  before  they 
were  empanelled,  and,  with  regard  to  two  of  them, 
before  the  verdict  was  rendered.  The  defendant  ex 
pected  to  prove,  by  twelve  witnesses,  that  one  of  these 
jurors  had  expressed  a  wish  to  have  the  defendant  put 
to  death,  and  had  declared,  shortly  after  the  verdict,  to 
a  person  inquiring  the  result,  that  "  he  had  convicted 
the  defendant,  and  that  this  was  what  he  intended  to 
do ; **  that  another  juror  had  also  declared  that  the  de 
fendant  ought  to  be  executed  ;  and  that  the  third  had 
frequently  made  the  same  declaration,  with  a  wish  that 
he  might  be  permitted  to  do  the  work  of  an  executioner, 
or  to  shoot  him  as,  he  would  a  serpent*  and  put  him  to 
death. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR. 

Nor  would  the  court  permit  the  defendant  to  show, 
by  proofs,  which  he  declared  on  oath  to  have  been  un 
known  to  him  at  the  time  of  the  empanelling  of  the 
jury,  that  an  array  of  twelve  men,  summoned  on  venire 
by  a  deputy  sheriff,  were  (or  a  considerable  part  of 
them  at  least)  the  same  persons  who  had  been  selected 
by  an  attorney  of  this  court,  who  assisted  the  officer  in 
the  service  of  the  summons. 

These  and  other  matters,  which  I  will  not  stop  to 
enumerate,  show  that  this  trial,  which  has  been  carried 
through  the  forms  of  law,  was  destitute  of  the  reality  of 
justice,  and  was  but  a  ceremony  preceding  conviction. 
That  there  is  any  precedent  for  it,  in  the  most  acri 
monious  period  of  the  most  excited  party  times  in  this 
country,  I  am  not  aware  from  any  examination  or  recol 
lection  of  its  political  history. 

In  a  trial  of  an  alleged  political  offence,  involving  the 
feelings  of  the  whole  community,  and  growing  out  of  a 
condition  of  affairs  which  placed  the  whole  people  of 
the  state  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  an  exasperated 
controversy,  the  strictest  and  most  sacred  impartiality 
should  have  been  observed  in  the  most  careful  investi 
gation  both  of  law  and  fact  by  the  jury,  and  in  all 
the  decisions  and  directions  of  the  court.  In  what  case 
should  they  have  been  more  distrustful  of  the  political 
bias  of  their  own  minds,  more  careful  in  all  their  delib 
erations,  more  earnest  in  the  invocation  of  a  strength 
above  their  own,  that  they  might  not  only  appear  to  be 
just,  but  do  justice  in  a  manner  so  above  all  suspicion, 
that  the  defendant,  and  all  those  with  whom  he  is  asso 
ciated,  might  be  satisfied  that  he  had  had  his  day  in 
court,  and  that  every  requisition  of  the  law  had  been 
observed  and  fulfilled.  In  how  different  a  spirit  were 
the  proceedings  of  this  trial  conducted !  And  with 
what  emotions  must  the  defendant  have  listened  to  the 
declaration  of  one  of  your  honors,  that  "  in  the  hurry 
of  this  trial "  they  could  not  attend  to  the  questions  of 


THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

law,  which  he  so  earnestly  pressed  upon  their  imme 
diate  consideration,  as  vitally  important  to  the  righteous 
determination  of  his  case  1 

The  result  of  this  trial,  which  your  sentence  is  about 
to  proclaim,  is  the  perpetual  imprisonment  of  the  de 
fendant,  and  his  seclusion  from  the  face  of  society,  and 
from  all  communication  with  his  fellow-men. 

Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  object  of  his  political 
opponents  is  the  gratification  of  an.  insatiable  spirit  of 
revenge,  rather  than  the  attainment  of  legal  justice  ? 
They  are  also  bent  upon  hi&  political  destruction,  which 
results  from  the  sentence  of  the  court,  in  the  deprivation 
of  his  political  and  civil  rights.  They  aim  also  at  a 
social  annihilation,  by  his  commitment  to  that  tomb  of 
the  living,  from  which,  in  ordinary  cases,  those  who 
emerge  are  looked  upon  as  marked  and  doomed  men, 
to  be  excluded  from  the  reputable  walks  of  life.  But 
there  my  opponents  and  persecutors  are  destined  to 
disappointment.  The  court  may,  through  the  conse 
quences  of  their  sentence,  abridge  the  term  of  his  exist 
ence  here  ;  they  can  annihilate  his  political  rights  ;  but 
more  than  this  they  cannot  accomplish.  The  honest 
judgment  of  his  friends  and  fellow-citizens,  resting  upon 
the  truth  of  his  cause,  and  faithful  to  the  dictates  of 
humanity  and  justice,  will  not  so  much  regard  the  place 
to  which  he  is  consigned,  as  the  causes  which  have  led 
to  his  incarceration  within  its  walls. 

Better  men  have  been  worse  treated  than  I  have 
been,  though  not  often  in  a  better  cause.  In  the  service 
of  that  cause  I  have  no  right  to  complain  that  I  am 
called  upon  to  suffer  hardships,  whatever  may  be  the 
estimate  of  the  injustice  which  inflicts  them. 

All  these  proceedings  will  be  reconsidered  by  that 
ultimate  tribunal  of  public  opinion,  whose  righteous  de 
cision  will  reverse  all  the  wrongs  which  may  be  now 
committed,  and  place  that  estimate  upon  my  actions  to 
which  they  may  be  fairly  entitled. 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORK. 

The  process  of  this  court  does  not  reach  the  man 
within.  The  court  cannot  shake  the  convictions  of  the 
mind,  nor  the  fixed  purpose  which  is  sustained  by  in 
tegrity  of  heart. 

Claiming  no  exemptions  from  the  infirmities  which 
beset  us  all,  and  which  may  attend  us  in  the  prosecu 
tion  of  the  most  important  enterprises,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  conscious  of  the  rectitude  of  my  intentions,  and 
of  having  acted  from  good  motives  in  an  attempt  to 
promote  the  equality,  and  to  establish  the  just  freedom 
and  interest  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  can  regard  with 
equanimity  this  last  infliction  of  the  court ;  nor  would 
I,  even  at  this  extremity  of  the  law,  in  view  of  the 
opinions  which  you  entertain,  and  of  the  sentiments 
by  which  you  are  animated,  exchange  the  place  of  a 
prisoner  at  the  bar  for  a  seat  by  your  side  upon  the 
bench.  • 

The  sentence  which  you  will  pronounce,  to  the  ex 
tent  of  the  power  and  influence  which  this  court  can 
exert,  is  a  condemnation  of  the  doctrines  of  '76,  and  a 
reversal  of  the  great  principles  which  sustain  and  give 
vitality  to  our  democratic  republic,  and  which  are  re 
garded  by  the  great  body  of  our  fellow-citizens  as  a 
portion  of  the  birthright  of  a  free  people. 

From  this  sentence  of  the  court  I  appeal  to  the  people 
of  our  state  and  of  our  country.  They  shall  decide  be 
tween  us.  I  commit  myself,  without  distrust,  to  their 
final  award.  I  have  nothing  more  to  say. 

When  Mr.  Dorr  had  finished  his  remarks,  Chief  Jus 
tice  Durfee  arose,  and  pronounced  his  sentence  in  the 
following  words  :  — 

Listen,  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  to  the  sentence  of 
the  court ;  which  is,  that  the  said  Thomas  W.  Dorr  be 
imprisoned  in  the  state  prison  at  Providence,  in  the 


214  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

county  of  Providence,  for  the  term  of  his  natural 
life,  and  there  kept  at  hard  labor  in  separate  confine 
ment. 

The  court  had  now  gone  to  the  extent  of  their,  prov 
ince,  and  hurled  their  last  bolt  against  their  defenceless 
victim;  and  on  the  27th  of  June,  1844,  just  two  years 
after  Mr.  Dorr  dismissed  his  forces  at  Chepatchet,  he 
was  removed  to  the  state  prison  in  Providence,  and 
incarcerated  in  a  cell,  where,  according  to  the  sentence 
of  the  court,  he  was  to  remain  during  his  natural  life. 

So  far  as  we  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  crim 
inal  treason,  it  has  been  contrived  and  conducted  with 
more  or  less  secrecy  — it  has  consisted  of  clandestine 
attempts  to  surprise  and  overthrow  the  government  by 
force.  Mr.  Dorr's  case  was  the  very  reverse  of  this. 
Every  thing  had  been  done  in  the  most  public  manner 
possible,  and  the  whole  proceedings  consisted  of  a  series 
of  steps  which  followed  each  other  at  intervals  which 
gave  all  parties  ample  time  to  consider  them.  If  Mr. 
Dorr  was  guilty  of  the  highest  crime  known  to  any  law 
because  he  labored  to  sustain  a  democratic  government 
which  the  people  had  ordained,  then  hundreds  of  others 
were  guilty  of  the  same  crime  ;  and  why  should  he 
be  made  a  scapegoat  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  party  ? 
Why  pursue  him  alone  with  such  unrelenting  hostility, 
when  there  were  so  many  others  wjio  had  with  him  ac 
tually  taken  up  arms  ? 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

REFLECTIONS. 

THE  history  of  treason  shows  that  it  has  been  chiefly 
confined  to  arbitrary  and  unjust  governments,  and  that 
far  the  largest  number  of  those  who  have  suffered  for 
that  crime  have  been  good  men,  who  sought  to  relieve 
their  own  people  from  the  oppressive  measures  of  their 
rulers.  If  Great  Britain  had  succeeded  in  overcoming 
the  rebellion,  as  she  called  it,  in  her  American  colonies, 
in  1776,  then  George  Washington  and  Nathaniel  Greene, 
with  all  their  compatriots,  would  have  been  held  guilty 
of  treason.  The  essential  characteristics  of  this  crime 
are  said  to  consist  in  levying  war  against  *the  sovereign 
power  of  the  state  to  which  the  offender  owes  allegi 
ance.  In  a  monarchical  government  the  sovereign  power 
is  supposed  to  belong  to  a  single  individual.  In  Russia 
the  will  of  the  czar  is  the  sovereign  power ;  therefore 
to  resist  that  will  is  treason,  because  that  people  suppose 
that  by  divine  appointment  the  right  to  rule  runs  forever 
in  the  blood  of  a  certain  family  ;  and  similar  sentiments 
prevail  in  all  countries  governed  by  hereditary  monr 
archs.  The  government  of  Great  Britain,  from  which 
we  have  obtained  many  of  our  ideas  of  jurisprudence, 
is  a  mixture  of  monarchy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy  ; 


£16  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

but  the  supreme  or  highest  power  is  supposed  to  be 
vested  forever  in  the  crown.  Therefore  treason  in 
Great  Britain  does  not  consist  in  levying  war  against 
Parliament,  or  any  other  special  department  of  the  gov 
ernment,  but  in  levying  war  against  the  crown  itself. 
But  our  government  is  the  very  reverse  of  monarchy ; 
in  theory  it  is  a  democracy.  We  hold  that  in  the 
United  States  absolute  sovereignty  is  vested  in  the  peo 
ple,  and  in  them  alone  ;  and  that  state  constitutions  are 
the  acts  of  the  people  in  their  absolute  sovereign  capaci 
ty,  and  at  all  times  under  their  immediate  control ;  and 
if  this  theory  of  our  government  be  correct,  then  the 
will  of  the  people  is  the  sovereign  power,  and  it  fol 
lows,  of  course,  that  to  levy  war  against  that  declared 
will  is  virtual  if  not  legal  treason.  The  American  gov 
ernments  are  supposed  to  exist  by  the  consent  of  a  ma 
jority  of  the  people  until  the  contrary  is  shown  ;  but 
when  that  majority  freely  and  publicly  declare  their 
dissent  to  it,  and  withdraw  their  support  from  it,  then 
it  cannot  be  treason  to  levy  war  against  such  minority 
government ;  but  to  levy  war  against  the  known  and 
expressed  will  of  a  decided  majority  of  the  people  can 
be  nothing  better  than  treason.  It  is  highly  important 
that  every  American  citizen  should  fully  understand  the 
genius  and  principles  of  his  own  government,  and 
know  for  a  certainty  where  the  sovereign  power  is 
vested.  Is  the  question  of  political  sovereignty  yet  to 
to  be  settled  in  this  country  ?  Have  hot  the  people  of 
the  United  States  yet  ascertained  where  the  supreme 
power  may  ultimately  be  found  ?  Then  we  say  that  it 
is  high  time  that  the  inquiry  was  made,  and  the  ques- 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  217 

tioii  fully  and  permanently  settled.  If  it  is  not  in  the 
whole  people,  then  all  our  political  teachings  have  been 
false.  If  it  is  not,  as  we  have  supposed,  in  the  people 
at  large,  then  we  are  no  better  off  than  the  inhabitants 
of  the  old  countries,  and  our  democracy  is  an  unmean 
ing  term.  When,  hereafter,  an  American  shall  go 
abroad  to  some  foreign  country,  and  boast  of  the  pop 
ular  sovereignty  of  his  own,  may  not  the  subjects  of 
despotism,  in  derision  and  reproach,  point  him  to  Rhode 
Island  ?  And  what  reply  can  he  make  to  such  a  wither 
ing  rebuke  ?  The  charter  party  in  Rhode  Island  gained 
their  ascendency,  not  by  the  free  will  of  the  people,  but 
by  force  alone.  Now,  if  the  whole  people  had  been  left 
free  from  coercion  at  home,  and  threats  and  force  from 
abroad,  the  people's  government,  with  Mr.  Dorr  at  its 
head,  would  doubtlessly  have  gone  quietly  into  opera 
tion  ;  and  if  any  of  the  supporters  of  the  exploded 
charter  government  had  rebelled  and  taken  up  arms 
against  the  government  which  the  sovereign  people  had 
set  up,  such  insurgents  might,  with  much  more  justice, 
have  been  brought  to  trial  for  treason  before  a  court 
appointed  by  Mr.  Dorr  and  his  legislature.  We  have 
only  to  put  the  physical  weight  into  the  other  scale,  and 
the  judicial  power  passes  over  to  the  other  side ;  and  if 
such  had  been  the  case,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  rights  of  men  would  have  been  better  guarded 
and  more  respected,  and  justice  better  administered. 

If  we  take  a  plain,  common-sense  view  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  parties  in   the  Rhode  Island  controversy, 
we  cannot  fail  to  observe  a  striking  contrast  between 
them.     Mr.  Dorr  and  his  party  paid  a  scrupulous  regard 
19 


THE    LIFE    AND     TIMES    OF 

to  private  rights,  and  no  individual  was  robbed  or 
injured  by  his  order ;  and  when  it  was  ascertained  that 
a  single  beast  had  been  killed  by  his  men,  full  satisfac 
tion  was  immediately  made  to  the  owner ;  and  it  has 
been  shown  by  the  testimony  of  Jedediah  Sprague  that 
when  Mr.  Dorr  and  his  men  quartered  at  his  house  in 
Chepatchet,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Dorr  Mr.  Sprague 
closed  his  bar,  and  dealt  out  no  liquor  during  their  stay 
with  him.  But  the  conduct  of  the  party  professedly 
governed  by  "  law  and  order  "  exhibits  a  striking  con 
trast  with  this.  They  paid  little  or  no  respect  to  either 
person  or  property  ;  but  in  open  violation  of  law,  and 
without  shame  or  remorse,  they  assaulted,  abused, 
robbed,  and  imprisoned  all  such  as  they  chose.  Like 
an  army  of  crusaders  to  whom  full  indulgence  had  been 
granted,  they  seemed  to  feel  themselves  under  no  moral 
restraint,  but  gave  full  scope  to  all  their  appetites  and 
passions,  as  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Sprague  and  other 
innkeepers  will  show. 

"We  are  credibly  informed  that  during  a  single  night, 
on  the  24th  of  June,  1842,  the  keeper  of  a  public  house 
in  the  town  of  Bristol,  by  official  direction,  furnished 
the  "  law  and  order  "  forces  with  victuals,  liquor,  ci 
gars,  &c.,  to  the  full  amount  of  one  thousand  dollars, 
all  of  which,  with  sundry  other  large  bills  of  a  similar 
kind,  were  paid  by  the  state  ;  but  we  believe  that  no 
compensation  has  ever  been  made  to  the  hundreds  of 
individuals  who  were  robbed  and  despoiled  of  their 
property  by  the  marauding  clans  of  law  and  order. 
The  government  appear  to  have  been  ever  ready  to  as 
sume  and  justify  every  deed  perpetrated  under  their 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  219 

own  banner,  and  to  extend  their  protecting  batoon  to 
every  desperado  who  claimed  the  immunities  of  a  royal 
charter  ;  and  at  last,  amid  all  the  accumulation  of  enor 
mities,  whilst  the  whole  party  staggered  beneath  the 
weight  of  their  own  guilt,  their  hands  still  reeking 
with  the  blood  of  an  innocent  victim,  as  if  one  more* 
damning  deed  was  required  to  cap  the  frightful  climax, 
Mr.  Dorr  was  seized  and  plunged  into  a  dungeon  for 
life.  The  overthrow  of  the  people's  government  in 
Rhode  Island  by  force,  and  the  condemnation  and 
imprisonment  of  Mr.  Dorr,  are  acts  that  will  ever 
stand  condemned  by  all  the  friends  of  free  government 
throughout  the  world.  No  great  principle  is  better 
settled  now  than  that  the  people  themselves  are  above 
all  constitutions,  and  may,  in  their  own  time  and  in 
their  own  way,  make  new  constitutions,  or  abolish  old 
ones.  But  we  are  asked,  Why  agitate  the  subject 
anew  ?  Why  call  up  again  the  angry  passions  which 
have  been  hushed  into  repose  ?  To  this  we  answer, 
The  tendency  of  all  free  governments  is  towards  aris 
tocracy  and  monarchy.  This  is  shown  by  all  history, 
and  is  continually  witnessed  in  the  workings  of  our 
own  governments.  Men  clothed  with  authority  are 
extremely  prone  to  overstep  their  constitutional  limits, 
and  to  assume  powers  with  which  their  constituents 
never  intended  to  invest  them.  Wealth  and  profes 
sional  influence  are  always  inclined  to  turn  away  from 
the  people  at  large,  and  unite  with  honor  and  power 
however  acquired.  Ecclesiastical  influence  has  almost 
always  chosen  to  ally  itself  with  political  power.  These 
facts  remind  us  of  the  imperious  necessity  of  keeping 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

the  fundamental  principles  of  our  political  institutions 
constantly  before  the  public  ;  and  we  are  more  than  ever 
impressed  with  the  truth  of  the  maxim,  that  "  eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty."  It  was  because  this 
great  principle  had  been  in  a  manner  forgotten  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  by  the  national ,  executive,  that  the  strong 
arm  of  power  was  allowed  to  triumph  .over  the  people, 
and  crush  their  institutions  in  the  dust.  In  times  of 
political  quiet,  when  the  government  runs  its  smooth, 
monotonous  course  for  many  years,  the  people  are  ex 
tremely  liable  to  become  supine  and  forgetful  of  the 
pillars  upon  which  their  civil  and  political  institutions 
rest;  and  if  the  time  shall  ever  come  in  the  United 
States  when  these  fundamental  principles  shall  be  dis 
regarded  or  surrendered,  this  will  no  longer  be  a  free 
government,  but  will  belong  to  the  same  class  of  oli 
garchies  with  which  the  old  world  is  filled.  Therefore 
it  can  never  be  amiss  or  out  of  season  to  agitate  the 
subject,  and  keep  it  constantly  before  the  people.  It 
should  form  an  essential  part  of  the  education  of  our 
youth,  and  be  made  the  basis  of  all  our  political  creeds. 
One  generation  should  teach  it  to  another,  and  they 
again  to  theirs,  so  that  this  life  blood  of  political  liberty 
may  ever  continue  to  circulate  through  all  the  Amer 
ican  institutions.  This  would  keep  the  legislative  pow 
ers  always  in  check,  and  make  them  careful  to  learn 
and  do  the  will  of  the  people  ;  for  upon  that,  and  that 
alone,  depend  the  safety  and  permanency  of  our  free 
institutions.  The  people  are  not  likely  to  rebel  against 
themselves ;  and  wherever  treason  has  been  supposed  to 
be  committed  under  an  established  government,  it  has 


*      THOMAS   WILSON    BOER. 

been  a  sure  indication  of  some  great  wrong  in  the  rul 
ing  power.  The  freest  governments  are  always  safe 
and  stable  when  they  exist  by  the  known  and  voluntary 
consent  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  no  gov 
ernment  is  just,  or  can  be  long  maintained,  without  force, 
when  such  consent  is  withheld. 

This  subject  has  been  so  thoroughly  investigated,  and 
its  principles  so  well  settled  now,  that  it  would  not  be 
advisable  for  any  other  state  or  any  other  chief  magis 
trate  to  attempt  to  try  the  experiment  over  again.  If 
any  should,  they  might  find  themselves  overwhelmed 
in  a  resistless  tide  of  public  opinion,  before  which  their 
combined  forces  would  be  no  more  than  chaff  before  a 
driving  gale. 

In  a  little  more  than  half  a  century  from  the  time 
when  the  American  governments  were  founded  upon 
the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  as  set  forth  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  that  great  truth  which 
forms  the  palladium  of  all  our  political  institutions  was 
denied  and  set  at  nought  in  a  sovereign  state,  and  its 
everlasting  truths  declared  to  be  nothing  but  "rhe 
torical  flourishes  "  and  "  glittering  generalities,"  of  no 
lasting  import.  And  all  this  transpired  in  a  state  which 
was  the  foremost  of  all  the  sisterhood  in  establishing 

O 

both  religious  and  political  liberty,  and  most  careful  to 
guard  her  free  institutions  against  the  encroachments  of 
arbitrary  power  ;  a  state  which  according  to  her  abil 
ity,  did  more  than  any  other  to  establish  and  maintain 
the  true  principles  of  American  democracy  ;  a  state 
illustrious  alike  for  her  heroes  and  her  statesmen.  But 
alas !  the  fascinations  of  power  at  length  ripened  into 
19* 


THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 


tyranny,  and  in  an  unfortunate  hour  freedom  was  over 
thrown  !  If  there  be  one  thing  in  the  history  of  the 
Rhode  Island  controversy  more  humiliating  than  an 
other,  it  is  the  extraordinary  obsequious  sycophancy  of  a 
large  class  of  citizens.  They  yielded  too  readily  to  the 
siren  pleadings  of  the  parasites  of  power,  or  shrank 
ingloriously  from  the  threats  of  tyrants. 

In  times  of  religious  or  political  quiet,  men  live  and 
die  without  exhibiting  to  the  world  their  mental  or 
moral  powers,  or  even  knowing  them  themselves.  But 
when  society  becomes  unsettled,  and  its  elements 
thrown  into  commotion,  and  shaken  and  tossed  as  with 
a  mighty  tempest,  it  requires  a  higher  degree  of  moral 
integrity  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  mass  of  mankind  to 
withstand  the  fury  of  opposing  forces ;  and  when  great 
truths  are  to  be  set  up  or  sustained,  those  who  take  the 
lead  in  such  movements  must  possess  a  degree  of  firm 
ness  and  decision  unknown  to  mankind  in  general. 
Such  have  been  the  lights  of  the  world  in  all  religious, 
political,  and  social  reformations  ;  their  iron  wills  were 
incapable  of  bending  ;  to  them  fear  was  unknown  ;  and 
regardless  of  all  consequences  to  themselves,  they  have 
ever  struggled  with  invincible  perseverance  in  the  paths 
which  their  consciences  pointed  out.  Whilst  thousands 
upon  thousands  have  fallen  out  by  the  way,  a  few 
master  spirits  have  reached  the  destined  goal.  Such 
men  may  be  overcome  or  cast  down  by  the  power  of 
tyrants,  but  the  truths  which  they  sought  to  establish, 
though  "crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again."  "When 
such  men  fall,  their  enemies  are  confounded,  the  pil 
lars  of  bigotry  and  error  are  shaken,  light  flashes  upon 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR, 


the  paths  of  truth  and  reason,  and  the  final  triumph  of 
the  great  principles  for  which  they  contended  is  shad 
owed  forth.  And  when  all  the  petty  tyrants  who  tri 
umphed  over  Mr.  Dorr  shall  be  wholly  forgotten,  his 
name  shall  occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  temple  of 
political  liberty,  never  to  be  effaced  or  destroyed  until 
the  whole  structure  falls.  When  we  review  the  nu 
merous  tragical  scenes  enacted  in  Rhode  Island  in  that 
memorable  controversy,  we  can  hardly  believe  them 
ever  to  have  been  realities  ;  they  look  more  like  the 
distorted  visions  of  a  morbid  imagination  than  sober 
truths  ;  they  stand  without  a  parallel  in  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  confidently  hoped  they  will  ever  remain 
so.  Nor  is  there  much  danger  that  similar  proceedings 
will  ever  transpire  in  any  other  state.  Can  it  be  sup 
posed  that  if  two  thirds  of  the  people  of  any  one  of 
the  large  states  had,  in  a  regular  manner,  deliberately 
formed  and  adopted  a  democratic  constitution,  the  men 
aces  of  any  national  executive  would  have  frightened 
them  from  their  purpose  ?  or  that  the  friends  of  such  a 
constitution  could  have  been  subdued  by  a  petty  tyranny 
under  the  pretext  of  martial  law  ?  If  it  had  been  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  or  Ohio,  instead  of  the  small  State 
of  Rhode  Island,  neither  John  Tyler  nor  any  other 
chief  magistrate  would  have  rashly,  dashed  his  military 
forces  against  the  people, 


224  THE    LIFE   AN0  TIMS^ 


CHAPTER    XV, 

RESOLUTIONS    OF    NEW    HAMPSHIRE    AND    MAINE     COST- 
CERNING    MR.    DORR. 

» 

Resolutions  from  the  Legislature  of  New  Hampshire, 
communicated  to  the  Senate  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Rhode  Island,  Jan.  8,  1845. 

WHEREAS  it  is  provided  by  the  sixth  article  of  the 
amendments  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States., 
"That  in  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall 
enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  im 
partial  jury  of  the  state  and  district  wherein  the  crime 
shall  have  been  committed,  —  which  district  shall  have 
been  previously  ascertained  by  law  ;  and  to  be  informed 
of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the  accusation  j  to  be  con 
fronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him  ;  to  have  com 
pulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses-  in  his  favor,  and 
to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defence ; "  — 

And  whereas  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  states  of  this 
republic  (Thomas  "Wilson  Dorr)  has,  by  the  constituted 
authorities  of  that  state,  been  charged  with  the  crime 
of  treason,  arraigned  before  its  court,  pronounced 
guilty  of  the  offence  charged,  and  by  that  court  sen 
tenced  to  hard  labor  in  the  state  prison  during  his 
natural  life  ;  — 

And  whereas,  in  the  opinion  of  this  legislature,  all 
the  substantial  forms  of  justice,  required  to  be  observed 
in  criminal  cases,  were  during  his  trial  for  the  offence 
disregarded,  his  rights  grossly  violated  and  denied  to 


THOMAS  WILSON    DOKR. 


Mm  by  his  removal  for  trial  from  the  vicinage  in  which 
the  crime  was  alleged  to  have  been  committed  ;  by  the 
selection  of  a  packed  jury,  all  of  whom  were  his  polit 
ical  enemies  ;  and  by  the  refusal,  on  the  part  of  the 
judges  of  the  court  before  whom  he  was  tried,  to  permit 
him,  by  the  strongest  evidence  which  it  was  possible  to 
offer,  to  establish  his  innocence,  and  to  prove  that  the 
acts  for  which  he  was  charged  with  the  crime  of  treason 
were  only  in  obedience  to  the  constitution  of  the  state, 
whose  chief  magistrate  he  was,  and  as  such  was  bound 
to  support  that  constitution  which  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island  had  adopted  ;  and  which  evidence  of  adoption 
he  offered  to  lay  before  the  court,  by  presenting  to  them 
the  votes  of  the  people  themselves,  on  which  votes 
were  the  names  of  the  voters,  so  that  if  fraud  or  illegal 
voting  had  been  resorted  to  in  the  adoption  of  the  con 
stitution,  the  court  would  be  enabled  to  detect  the  same 
—  all  of  which  evidence  was  rejected,  and  the  decision 
of  his  guilt  or  innocence,  in  which  was  involved  the 
great  and  important  question  of  the  right  of  the  people 
to  establish  a  constitution  or  form  of  government  suited 
to  their  own  wants  and  convenience,  was  referred  to  a 
jury  packed  for  the  occasion,  and  three  of  them,  he 
offered  to  prove  to  the  court,  had,  in  violation  of  their 
oath,  prejudged  his  case  :  — 

Therefore,  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  in  General  Court  convened,  That  in  the 
person  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  now  confined  in  the 
state  prison  of  Rhode  Island,  the  authorities  of  that 
state  have  trampled  upon  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  by  denying  to  him  the  right  to  be  tried  by  an 
impartial  jury,  in  the  vicinage  in  which  the  crime  was 
alleged  to  have  been  committed,  and  by  refusing  to  him 
the  right  of  introducing  testimony  tending  to  establish 
his  innocence  of  the  offence  charged  ;  and  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  restore  to  the  said  Thomas  Wilson 
Dorr  those  sacred  rights  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  con- 


226  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

stitution,  as  a  man  and  a  citizen  of  this  republic  ;  and 
to  wipe  out  the  deep  and  damning  stain  stamped  upon 
the  national  escutcheon  by  the  mode  trial  and  condem 
nation  of  this  individual,  guilty  of  no  offence  but  that 
of  maintaining  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  of 
obeying  their  sovereign  will. 

And  whereas  it  is  provided  by  the  eighth  article  of 
the  amendments  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States, 
that  "  excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive 
fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  in 
flicted,*'  and  whereas  the  punishment  imposed  upon  the 
said  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr  is,  in  the  opinion  of  this  legis 
lature,  both  "  cruel  and  unusual,"  —  unusual,  as  being, 
it  is  believed,  the  first  offence  of  a  strictly  political 
character  which  has  been  punished  by  a  state  since  the 
declaration  of  American  independence  —  unusual  when 
the  nature  of  the  offence  is  considered  in  connection 
with  the  plain  principles  upon  which  the  government 
of  the  United  States  is  founded,  the  principle  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  ;  and  whereas  it  is  the  man 
ifest  duty  of  the  general  government  to  protect  and 
guard  the  rights  of  individuals  so  far  as  those  rights  are 
guaranteed  by  the  constitution,  —  therefore  Resolved, 
That  the  imprisonment  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr  by  the 
authorities  of  Rhode  Island  presents  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  a  case  of  "  cruel  and  unusual  punish 
ment  "  inflicted  upon  that  individual  for  exercising,  in 
a  constitutional  manner,  the  duties  imposed  upon  him 
as  chief  magistrate  of  that  state,  to  which  office  he  was 
duly  elected  under  a  constitution  adopted  by  a  large 
majority  of  its  citizens,  and  as  such  calls  loudly  upon 
the  general  government  to  extend  to  him,  the  said 
Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  that  protection  against  tyranny 
and  oppression  which  the  government  of  these  United 
States  are  bound  in  good  faith  to  extend  to  all  and 
every  one  of  its  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  while  we  disclaim  all  right  to  inter- 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR. 


ference  with  the  internal  police  and  regulations  of  our 
sister  states,  leaving  to  them  the  full  exercise  of  sover 
eign  power,  (so  far  as  it  has  not  been  delegated  to  the 
United  States,)  yet  we  cannot  but  protest  against  the 
wanton  exercise  of  this  power  by  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  in  the  case  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  who,  as  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  has  rights  which  should  be 
regarded  as  sacred,  and  which  the  general  government 
is  bound  to  maintain  and  defend. 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  doctrine  of  the  sover 
eignty  of  the  people  as  of  vital  importance  to  the  stabil 
ity  and  permanency  of  our  republic,  and  that  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island,  in  common  with  the  people  of  the 
other  states  composing  this  Union,  possess  this  right  — 
that  when  they  speak,  "  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be 
given  in  each  state  to  their  'public  acts,9  "  one  of  which 
was  the  establishment  of  a  constitution,  adopted  by  a 
majority  of  her  people,  and  another  the  election  of  offi 
cers  under  that  constitution,  of  which  Thomas  Wilson 
Dorr  was  the  chief  magistrate,  and  as  such  should  have 
been  recognized  by  the  several  states  composing  this 
Union,  and  by  the  United  States  government  itself. 

Resolved,  That  our  senators  and  representatives  in 
Congress  be  requested  to  lay  this  preamble  and  resolu 
tions  before  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  that  the  sec 
retary  of  state  be  directed  to  furnish  each  of  them  with 
a  copy  of  the  same,  and  also  to  furnish  a  copy  to  the 
governors  of  the  several  states  and  territories. 

The  resolutions  were  signed  by  Governor  Steele, 
"  approved  —  heartily  approved." 

Maine  legislative  Resolutions  in  Relation  to  the  Impris 
onment  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr. 

Whereas,  we  hold  that  "all  men  are  born  equally 
free  and  independent,  have  certain  natural  and  inalien- 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIME9    OF 

able  rights,  among  which  are  those  of  enjoying  and 
defending  life  and  liberty,  acquiring,  possessing,  and 
protecting  property,  and  of  pursuing  and  obtaining 
safety  and  happiness  ; "  that  the  people  are  the  source 
of  all  legitimate  power ;  that  all  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ; 
and  in  the  people  resides  full  and  plenary  power  to  in-- 
stitute  government,  "  to  alter,  reform,  or  totally  change 
the  same,  whenever  their  safety  and  happiness  require 
it ; "  and  whereas  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
guarantees  to  every  state  in  this  Union  "  a  republican 
form  of  government,"  and  provides  that  (t  in  all  crimi 
nal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a 
speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the 
state  and  district  wherein  the  crime  shall  have  been 
committed ;  "  and  that  "  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of  law," 
—  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  sovereign  power  of  a  state  is  inhe 
rent  in  the  people,  and  all  free  governments  are  founded 
on  their  authority  and  instituted  for  their  benefit ;  and 
that  no  man  or  set  of  men  is  entitled  to  supreme  or 
exclusive  privileges  in  the  institution  and  support  of 
government. 

Resolved,  That  the  sovereign  power  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island  is  inherent  in  the  people  thereof,  and  to 
them  belongs  the  right  to  institute  government,  to 
change  or  abolish  the  same,  as  they  may  deem  wise  and 
proper  for  their  safety  and  happiness. 

Resolved,  That  the  constitution  of  Rhode  Island, 
adopted  by  the  people  in  December,  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty  one,  is  republican  in  its  form,  and  was  right 
fully  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the  people  thereof,  and 
thereby  became  the  permanent  law  of  the  state,  and  as 
such  was  entitled  to  the  guarantee  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  interference  of  John  Tyler,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  in  behalf  of  the  late  charter 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  229 

government  of  Rhode  Island,  with  the  military  power 
of  the  Union,  by  which  the  popular  government  of  that 
state,  under  the  constitution  adopted  in  December, 
eighteen  hundred  and  forty-one,  was  suppressed,  was 
unauthorized  by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  in  derogation  of  both  a  dangerous  usurpation  of 
power  and  a  wanton  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Rhode  Island. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  recent  popular  movement  in 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  we  recognize  in  the  person 
of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr  a  bold  and  uncompromising 
champion  of  the  great  American  doctrines  of  the  revo 
lution,  the  able  and  stern  defender  of  popular  sover 
eignty,  a  noble  son  of  a  degenerate  state,  now  the 
victim  of  vindictively  corrupt  judges,  and  a  packed  and 
partial  jury. 

Resolved,  That  the  State  of  Maine,  by  her  legislature, 
hereby  enters  her  solemn  protest  against  the  imprison 
ment  of  Thomas  W.  Dorr  in  the  state  prison  in  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  by  the  authorities  thereof,  as 
unjust,  illegal,  malignant,  and  tyrannical,  unbecoming 
the  age  in  which  we  live,  and  deserving  the  marked 
disapprobation  of  the  American  people  ;  and  in  the  opin 
ion  of  this  legislature  it  is  the  imperative  duty  of  the 
general  government  to  adopt  any  and  all  legal  and  con 
stitutional  measures  for  his  immediate  release. 

Resolved,  That  the  governor  be  requested  to  cause  a 
copy  of  these  resolves  to  be  transmitted  to  the  presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  to  the  governors  of  the  sev 
eral  states,  and  to  each  of  our  senators  and  representa 
tives  in  Congress.  (Approved  April  4,  1845.) 
20 


230  THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTEE    XVI. 

REPORT  OF  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRE 
SENTATIVES  IN  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES.  ALSO,  SPEECH  OF  HON.  MR.  ALLEN,  OF 
OHIO. 

AT  the  January  session  of  the  Rhode  Island  legisla 
ture,  in  1844,  a  portion  of  the  members  of  both  Houses, 
twenty-six  in  number,  signed  and  forwarded  a  memo 
rial  to  Congress,  setting  forth  the  political  grievances  to 
which  the  people  of  that  state  had  been  subjected,  and 
requesting  the  House  of  Representatives  to  "institute 
an  inquiry  into  the  facts  "  set  forth  in  that  memorial. 
That  memorial,  with  other  documents,  was  referred  to 
a  select  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
consisting  of  the  following  gentlemen,  viz.:  Messrs. 
Burke,  Rathbun,  Causin,  McClernand,  and  Preston, 
who  were  empowered  to  send  for  persons  and  papers. 
They  commenced  their  investigation  on  the  £9th  of 
February,  1844,  and  continued  it  until  the  3d  day  of 
June  following.  In  the  commencement  of  their  pro 
ceedings,  they  caused  notice  to  be  given  to  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  also  to  the 
memorialists,  of  their  appointment,  and  of  the  course 
which  they  intended  to  pursue  in  the  investigation,  in 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR. 


order  that  either  party  might  appear,  if  they  chose, 
and  be  heard.  The  committee  also  passed  the  fol 
lowing  resolution  :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  president  of  the  United  States  be 
requested  to  lay  before  this  House  the  authority,  and 
true  copies  of  all  requests  and  applications,  upon  which 
he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  interfere  with  the  naval  and 
military  forces  of  the  United  States,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  recent  attempt  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  to 
establish  a  free  constitution  in  the  place  of  the  old 
charter  government  of  that  state  ;  also,  copies  of  the 
instructions  to,  and  statements  of,  the  charter  commis 
sioners,  sent  to  him  by  the  then  existing  authorities  of 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island  ;  also,  copies  of  the  corre 
spondence  between  the  executive  of  the  United  States 
and  the  charter  government  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  all  the  papers  and  documents  connected 
with  the  same  ;  also,  copies  of  the  correspondence,  if 
any,  between  the  heads  of  departments  and  said  charter 
government,  or  any  person  or  persons  connected  with 
said  government,  and  of  any  accompanying  papers  and 
documents  ;  also,  copies  of  all  orders  issued  by  the 
executive  of  the  United  States,  or  any  of  the  de 
partments,  to  military  officers,  for  the  movement  or 
employment  of  troops  to  or  in  Rhode  Island;  also, 
copies  of  all  orders  to  naval  officers  to  prepare  steam  or 
other  vessels  of  the  United  States  for  service  in  the 
waters  of  Rhode  Island  ;  also,  copies  of  all  orders  to 
the  officers  of  revenue  cutters  for  the  same  service  ;  also, 
copies  of  any  instructions  borne  by  the  secretary  of  war 
to  Rhode  Island,  on  his  visit  in  184£  to  review  the 
troops  of  the  charter  government  ;  also,  copies  of  any 
order  or  orders  to  any  officer  or  officers  of  the  army  or 
navy,  to  report  themselves  to  the  charter  government  ; 
and  that  he  be  further  requested  to  lay  before  this 
House  copies  of  any  other  paper  or  document  in  the 


THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF 

possession   of  the   executive,   connected  with  this  sub 
ject,  not  above  specially  enumerated. 

A  petition  signed  by  General  Samuel  Milroy  and  a 
large  number  of  the  citizens  of  the  State  of  Indiana, 
praying  Congress  to  inquire  into  alleged  abuses  prac 
tised  by  the  charter  party  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
was  also  referred  to  the  same  committee. 

The  committee  also  notified  the  Rhode  Island  repre 
sentatives  in  Congress  to  appear  before  them,  and  be 
heard  if  they  thought  proper.  After  these  preliminary 
steps  had  been  taken,  the  committee  proceeded  to  sum 
mon  witnesses  and  provide  for  taking  depositions,  and 
no  deposition  was  taken  except  when  both  parties  had 
been  notified  of  the  caption,  and  a  full  opportunity  was 
given  all  concerned  to  appear  and  be  heard.  And  after 
collecting  a  large  amount  of  documentary  and  parol 
testimony,  and  carefully  examining  and  considering  the 
whole  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  the  committee  pro 
ceeded  to  make  a  long  and  very  able  report.  Its  great 
length  prevents  us  from  giving  it  in  full.  The  follow 
ing  is  an  extract  from  that  report :  — 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that,  in  the  difficulties 
which  occurred  in  Rhode  Island,  during  the  attempt  to 
establish  the  people's  constitution,  the  committee  have 
not  yet  learned  that  a  single  life  was  taken,  or  private 
property  violated,  by  the  suffrage  party  or  any  indi 
vidual  attached  to  it.  This  fact  speaks  volumes  in  favor 
of  the  moderation  of  its  course,  and  shows  conclu 
sively  that  none  of  its  members  could  have  been  actu 
ated  by  criminal  intentions. 

It  is  also  due  to  truth  to  remark,  that  the  committee 
have  reason  to  believe  that  the  nineteen  cases  described 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  233 

above  fall  very  far  short  of  the  whole  number  of  pros 
ecutions  for  similar  offences.  It  is  a  fact  notorious  to 
the  -country,  that  several  others  have  been  indicted  for 
treason,  among  whom  is  the  Hon.  Dutee  J.  Pearce,  of 
Newport,  formerly  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress 
from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  under  the  people's  consti 
tution. 

Another  case  is  that  of  Thomas  W.  Dorr,  who  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  governor  under  the  people's 
constitution,  and  who  has  recently .  been  tried  for  the 
crime  of  treason.  He  is  known  personally  to  one  of 
the  members  of  this  committee  to  be  a  gentleman  of 
high  character,  and  very  superior  talents  and  accom 
plishments  —  a  man  whose  good  name  would  never 
intentionally  be  stained  with  the  perpetration  of  crime. 
His  native  state  has  seldom  produced  a  man  favored 
with  brighter  faculties,  or  adorned  with  purer  virtues. 
What  could  such  a  man  care  about  the  honor  of  being 
at  the  head  of  the  government  of  Rhode  Island,  except 
it  was  to  assert  and  vindicate  what  he  believed  to  be  a 
great  principle  of  right,  on  which  he  believed  the  liber 
ties  of  the  people  depended  ?  He  is  connected  by  re 
lationship  with  the  most  respectable  and  wealthy  families 
belonging  to  the  ruling  party  of  the  state;  he  has 
talents  of  a  high  order,  and  an  education  finished  and 
complete.  And  if  he  had  continued  to  support  the  in 
terests  of  the  charter  government,  his  pathway  to  the 
highest  honors  within  its  gift  was  open  and  unimpeded, 
and  his  success  not  to  be  doubted.  For  what  could 
such  a  man  abandon  such  prospects,  for  the  purpose  of 
leading  the  people  in  a  hazardous  and  perilous  enter 
prise,  if  it  were  not  to  assert  and  vindicate  a  great 
principle  ?  Could  he  be  charged  with  a  desire  for  the 
honors  and  emoluments  of  office  ?  The  office  of  gov 
ernor  of  Rhode  Island,  with  its  salary  of  four  hundred 
dollars,  could  hardly  be  a  prize  sufficiently  dazzling  to 
20* 


£34  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

win  such  a  man  from  his  high  hopes  and  brilliant  prom 
ises.  Could  it  be  love  of  plunder  ?  His  enemies  have 
admitted  that,  aside  from  his  political  theories,  he  was 
honest.  Who,  then,  will  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
Thomas  Wilson  Dorr  ever  contemplated  the  crime  of 
treason,  which  implies  a  wicked  and  corrupt  attempt  to 
overthrow  a  government  admitted  to  be  rightfully  and 
legitimately  existing?  What  other  obvious  intention 
could  he  have,  but  to  assert  and  vindicate  the  great 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  involved  in  the  con 
test  between  the  two  parties  in  Rhode  Island  ?  Yet 
this  man  has  been  convicted  of  treason  by  a  jury  of 
twelve  men,  (every  one  of  whom  was  his  political  oppo 
nent,)  and  is  now  liable  to  be  sentenced  to  imprisonment 
for  life  for  that  offence.  Does  justice,  or  the  security  of 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  require  such  severity  of 
punishment?  Yet  the  committee  deprecate  no  mercy 
for  Governor  Dorr.  The  time  will  come  when  his 
countrymen  will  appreciate  the  great  principle  for  which 
he  now  suffers  the  vengeance  of  his  persecutors,  and  do- 
justice  to  his  acts  and  his  motives.  The  same  sentence 
will  also  remove  from  his  shoulders,  to  those  of  his 
pursuers,  the  load  of  stigma  which  they  have  attempted 
to  cast  upon  him.  After  the  lapse  of  seventy  years 
from  the  revolution,  the  cause  of  liberty  may  require 
the  blood  of  some  martyrs,  even  in  America ;  but  from 
it,  like*  armed  men  from  the  dragon's  teeth,  will  spring 
up  myriads  of  brave  and  fearless  asserters  of  the  rights 
of  the  people,  by  whose  courage  and  efforts  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  may  be  rein 
stated  in  our  institutions  of  government. 

Miscellaneous  Acts  of  Outrage  and  Oppression  %  Persons 
acting  under  the  Authority  of  the  Charter  Government. 

Under  the  general  authority  conferred  upon  the  com 
mittee,  they  caused  a  commission  to  be  issued  to  the  Hon. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  £35 

Benjamin  F.  Hallett,  of  Boston,  to  take  the  testimony 
of  certain  witnesses  therein  named,  in  order  to  prove 
specific  acts  of  outrage  and  violence,  by  which  the  peo 
ple  of  Rhode  Island  were  intimidated,  and  their  consti 
tution  suppressed.*  A  large  mass  of  proof  has  been 
obtained  by  the  commissioner,  in  pursuance  of  the  au 
thority  delegated  to  him  by  the  committee,  an  abstract 
of  which  follows  :  — 

1.  The  first  matters  inquired  into  by  the  commis 
sioner  were  the  outrages  of  the  charter  troops  in  Paw- 
tucket,  and  the  murder  of  Alexander  Kilby,  the  par 
ticulars  of  which  follow  :  — 

They  first  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the 
murder  of  Alexander  Kilby,  a  citizen  of  Pawtucket, 
Mass.  This  event  occurred  on  the  £7th  day  of  June, 
1842,  being  immediately  after  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  was  placed  under  martial  law.  On  that  day,  a 
detachment  of  charter  troops  was  sent  from  Providence 
to  Pawtucket,  which  is  a  large  manufacturing  village, 
situated  partly  in  Rhode  Island  and  partly  in  Massa 
chusetts  —  Pawtucket  River  dividing  the  two  portions 
of  the  village,  which  were  united  by  a  bridge.  Until 
the  arrival  of  these  troops,  there  appears  to  have  been 

*  Commissions  were  first  issued  to  Walter  S.  Burgess,  George 
Turner,  and  Jesse  S.  Tourtellot,  Esqs.,  who  were  citizens  of  Rhode 
Island.  Before  proceeding  to  execute  their  commissions,  they  were 
threatened  with  prosecution  by  the  present  government  of  the  state, 
under  an  act  of  the  state  prohibiting  the  administration  of  extrajudicial 
oaths  —  an  act  originally  aimed  at  the  oaths  administered  at  masonic 
lodges.  These  threats  were  thrown  out  to  intimidate  the  commission 
ers  from  executing  their  commissions,  in  the  vain  hope  of  suppressing 
the  facts  which  the  investigation  by  the  committee  was  likely  to  elicit. 
Yet,  as  appears  by  the  documents  accompanying  the  president's  mes 
sage,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  committee,  this  law  was  repeat 
edly  violated  by  Judge  Pitman,  Henry  L.  Bowen,  and  Thomas  M.  Bur 
gess,  adherents  of  the  charter  government,  who  did  not  scruple  to 
take  depositions  and  administer  oaths  contrary  to  its  provisions  ;  for 
which  they  have  never  been  called  to  an  account,  and  never  will  be. 
The  committee,  however,  were  not  defeated  by  this  paltry  expedient 
to  elude  an  inquiry  into  their  acts  by  the  existing  authorities  of  the 
state. 


236  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

no  disturbance  or  particular  excitement  among  the  peo 
ple  on  either  side  of  the  river.  After  their  "arrival,  and 
near  the  evening,  they  commenced  acts  of  outrage  and 
violence  which  can  find  no  excuse  or  palliation  in  the 
conduct  of  the  inhabitants.  They  began  these  outrages 
by  repeated  discharges  of  musketry,  loaded  with  ball 
cartridges,  among  the  populace  of  the  village,  who  hud 
been  drawn  together  more  from  curiosity  than  any  other 
motive,  and  who  had  offered  no  resistance  or  violence  to 
the  military.  Many  of  the  balls  thus  discharged  rattled 
upon  the  brick  walls  of  the  houses ;  others  penetrated 
and  lodged  inside.  Two  of  the  citizens  were  hit  and 
slightly  wounded,  and  Alexander  Kilby,  a  peaceable  and 
quiet  citizen,  was  shot  dead.  To  show  the  circum 
stances  under  which  he  was  killed  more  particularly, 
the  committee  extract  the  following  statement  from  the 
deposition  of  Samuel  W.  Miller,  who  stood  near  Kilby 
at  the  time  he  was  shot.  Miller  was  a  resident  of 
Pawtucket,  on  the  Rhode  Island  side  of  the  river. 
He  says,  — 

"On  Monday  evening,  June  27,  1842,  about  dusk, 
I  crossed  over  the  bridge  from  the  Rhode  Island  to  the 
Massachusetts  side,  at  Pawtucket,  there  being  a  guard 
of  armed  men  stationed  on  the  bridge  at  that  time.  I 
went  up  to  Mr.  Abell's  hotel,  and  remained  there  until 
about  half  past  eight  o'clock,  P.  M.,  when  a  person 
came  in  and  stated  that  a  woman  had  been  killed  on  the 
bridge.  I  had  previously  heard  the  discharges  of  mus 
ketry,  but,  supposing  them  to  be  blank  cartridges,  I  did 
not  take  any  notice  of  them.  I  immediately  started  for 
the  bridge,  to  learn  if  the  report  was  correct,  and  had 
proceeded  as  far  as  the  corner  of  Mr.  William  Sweet's 
shop,  within  eighteen  yards  of  the  soldiers  at  the  bridge, 
when  I  was  accosted  by  Mr.  Alexander  Kilby,  who  put 
out  his  hand  and  asked  when  I  was  going  down  the  river. 
At  that  moment  I  saw  two  of  the  soldiers  on  the  bridge 
taking  deliberate  aim  at  us,  and  heard  Nehemiah  Potter, 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  237 

of  Pawtucket,  then  in  command  of  the  soldiery,  and 
whom  I  knew  well,  give  the  order  to  fire.  I  know  that 
he  was  the  person  who  gave  the  order  to  fire.  I  grasped 
Kilby 's  hand  to  pull  him  one  side ;  but  before  I  could 
succeed,  one  of  the  guns  went  off,  and  he  fell  dead  at 
my  feet ;  the  other  missed  fire,  which  probably  saved 
my  own  life.  I  left  Kilby  on  the  ground,  and  hurried 
back  to  Abell's  hotel,  the  soldiers  continuing  to  fire,  the 
effects  of  which  may  be  seen  in  a  number  of  ball  holes 
in  the  buildings  in  the  vicinity  of  the  bridge  on  the 
Massachusetts  side.  .  .  .  Kilby,  at  the  time  he  was 
shot,  was  doing  nothing  to  assail  or  provoke  the  sol 
diers,  nor  had  I  seen  him.  ...  I  never  knew  nor 
saw  Kilby  take  any  part  in  the  suffrage  cause.  I  saw 
no  persons  assailing  or  insulting  the  soldiers  when 
Kilby  was  killed,  and  knew  no  reason  why  they  should 
have  fired  on  us." 

Several  other  witnesses  confirm  the  testimony  of  Mil 
ler  in  all  its  essential  particulars,  as  well  in  respect  to 
the  killing  of  Kilby,  and  the  indiscriminate  firing  upon 
the  citizens  of  Pawtucket,  as  to  the  fact' that  the  troops 
had  no  adequate  provocation  for  such  an  unjustifiable 
and  atrocious  outrage.  No  coroner's  inquest  was  held 
on  the  body  of  Kilby ;  and  he  was  buried  while  the 
bridge  was  surrounded  by  the  charter  troops  with  can 
non  loaded  and  matches  lighted,  the  funeral  procession 
passing  near  to  them  in  its  way  to  and  from  the  place  of 
burial. 

Thus  was  a  peaceable  and  inoffensive  man  murdered 
in  cold  blood,  in  mere  wantonness,  and  without  a  pre- 
terice  of  justification  by  the  charter  troops  of  Rhode 
Island.  Kilby,  the  murdered  man,  left  a  wife  and 
seven  children  in  indigent  circumstances.  After  his 
death,  it  is  proved  that  the  citizens  6f  Pawtucket  and 
other  places  contributed  sums  of  money,  amounting  to 
about  two  hundred  dollars,  for  their  relief.  But  the 


238  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES  OF 

authorities  of  Rhode  Island  have  done  nothing  to  mitigate 
the  privations  and  sorrows  of  a  family  whose  protector 
and  father  was  shot  down  by  the  wanton  act  of  troops 
in  their  own  employment. 

Other  acts  of  violence  were  committed  upon  persons 
and  property  at  the  same  time  by  the  charter  troops. 
Among  them  are  the  following  cases  :  — 

Daniel  F.  Cutting  was  hit  in  the  arm  with  a  musket 
ball,  and  slightly  wounded.  Another  man,  William  R. 
Silloway,  was  slightly  wounded  in  the  knee  with  a 
musket  ball.  Robert  Abell  and  Larned  Scott,  while 
passing  over  the  bridge  on  to  the  Rhode  Island  side,  in  a 
covered  carriage,  were  shot  at  without  cause  or  provoca 
tion,  the  ball  penetrating  the  carnage,  and  passing 
through  between  the  two  inmates,  at  the  imminent  haz 
ard  of  their  lives.  Samuel  "W.  Miller  was  arrested  by 
the  charter  troops  without  cause,  rudely  treated,  and 
finally  discharged.  His  house  was  searched,  his  shop 
broken  open,  and  his  property  damaged.  Amos  Ide 
was  arrested  by  James  N.  Olney,  a  citizen  of  New 
York,  and  placed  under  a  guard  of  four  men,  two  of 
whom  said  they  were  citizens  of  New  York,  and  one 
was  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  finally  dis 
charged,  nothing  appearing  against  him. 

John  S.  Despeau  was  arrested  without  cause,  taken 
to  Providence,  and  discharged.  The  soldiers  took  pos 
session  of  his  confectionery  shop,  and  converted  a  por 
tion  of  its  contents  to  their  own  use,  for  which  he  never 
has  been  paid. 

The  witnesses  all  concur  in  the  statement  that  the 
disturbances  which  occurred  in  Pawtucket  were  pro 
duced  by  the  charter  troops  sent  there  from  Providence. 
All  the  acts  of  violence  and  outrage  detailed  above  were 
unprovoked  and  unjustifiable ;  and  the  discharge  of 
loaded  muskets  into  the  centre  of  a  populous  village 
can  be  ascribed  to  no  other  motive  than  a  wanton  dis 
position  to  destroy  human  life.  For  proof  of  the  facts 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  239 

above  stated,  the  committee  refer  to  the  depositions  of 
the  witnesses. 

2.  The  second  matter  inquired  into  by  the  commis 
sioner  was  the  detention  of  Governor  Dorr's  order  to 
disband  the  suffrage  forces,  by  which  the  peace  of  the 
state  and  the  lives  of  its  citizens  were  kept  in  peril  a 
day  longer;  and  the  interference  with  the  public  press. 

The  testimony  under  this  head  shows  that  before 
seven  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  27th  day  of  June, 
1842,  Governor  King  and  his  council  had  intercepted 
and  knew  Governor  Dorr's  order  to  disband  his  troops, 
which  was  enclosed  in  a  letter  to  "Walter  S.  Burgess, 
Esq.,  with  an  urgent  request  that  the  order  should  be 
forthwith  published  in  the  Express  newspaper,  the  organ 
of  the  suffrage  party,  and  that  Governor  King  and  his 
council,  together  with  Colonel  James  Barikhead,  of  the 
United  States  army,  (who  appears  to  have  been  present 
at  the  consultation,)  believed  that  the  suffrage  troops  had 
been  disbanded.  It  further  shows  that  Governor  King 
and  his  council  intercepted  and  broke  open  Governor 
Dorr's  letter,  and  detained  it  until  nine  o'clock  the  next 
morning.  The  depositions  under  this  head,  and  that 
of  Colonel  Harvey  Chaffee,  taken  to  prove  the  facts 
hereinafter  stated  under  the  fourth  head,  establish  the 
very  material  fact,  that  on  Monday  evening,  the  27th 
of  June,  it  was  known  to  the  charter  authorities,  civil 
and  military,  that  Dorr  had  disbanded  his  men,  and 
resistance  was  at  an  end ;  that  they  knew  he  only  de 
sired  to  have  his  men  allowed  to  return  peaceably  to 
their  homes ;  that  they  had  the  means  to  have  published 
his  order  on  Monday  evening  or  Tuesday  morning,  and 
thus  have  put  an  end  to  the  excitement  and  all  the  sub 
sequent  outrages ;  that,  with  this  knowledge,  they  sup 
pressed  the  order  until  about  Tuesday  noon ;  and,  in  the 
mean  time,  they  sent  their  troops  to  Chepatchet,  who 
captured  the  abandoned  fort,  and  seized  and  conveyed 
to  Providence  a  large  number  of  innocent  persons  as 


THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


prisoners,  besides  committing  numerous  other  outrages 
upon  the  persons  and  property  of  suffrage  men  ;  that, 
instead  of  sending  the  intelligence  of  the  disbandment 
of  the  suffrage  forces  to  Pawtucket,  to  quiet  matters 
there,  they  sent  two  companies  of  troops,  which  led  to 
the  murder  of  Kilby,  as  has  been  before  described. 
The  testimony  also  proves  that  some  four  hours  after 
they  knew  in  Providence  that  the  whole  suffrage  enter 
prise  was  at  an  end,  within  four  miles  of  Providence, 
and  after  it  was  known  that  Kilby  had  been  shot,  Gov 
ernor  King  sent  a  park  of  artillery  to  Pawtucket  to  blow 
up  the  bridge  between  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts. 

It  further  appears,  by  the  deposition  of  Robert  Abell, 
taken  by  the  committee,  that  on  the  night  Kilby  was  shot, 
(June  27,)  at  about  twelve  o'clock,  John  Whipple,  Esq., 
of  Providence,  escorted  by  two  armed  men,  entered 
AbelPs  house,  and  told  him  Dorr  had  left  Chepatchet, 
and  the  war  was  over.  This  fact  brings  the  knowledge 
home  to  the  charter  authorities  before  most  of  the 
outrages  hereinafter  mentioned  were  committed,  and 
demonstrates,  beyond  the  power  of  contradiction,  that 
revenge,  and  not  defence,  was  the  ruling  motive  of  the 
charter  authorities  and  their  adherents,  after  the  dis 
banding  of  the  suffrage  men. 

The  testimony  under  this  head  also  proves  a  direct 
interference  of  armed  men,  coupled  with  the  menaces 
of  the  charter  party  to  suppress  the  suffrage  press,  and 
by  which  the  Express  newspaper  was  suppressed,  as 
is  directly  proved  by  the  depositions  of  its  proprietors 
and  editors,  whose  testimony  is  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  Governor  King  gave  them  a  license  to  publish  the 
order  of  Governor  Dorr  disbanding  his  troops. 

Aaron  Simons,  a  person  attached  to  the  office  of  the 
Herald,  states  that  Samuel  Dexter,  son-in-law  to  the 
present  governor  of  the  state,  (James  Fenner,)  came 
into  the  office,  made  use  of  abusive  and  violent  lan 
guage,  saying  "  that  the  press  and  types  ought  to  be 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  241 

thrown  into  the  street,  and  that  he  would  be  one  to  help 
do  it.  From  threats  out  doors,  and  other  causes,  the 
press  was  kept  in  awe  during  the  continuance  of  martial 
law,  and  the  liberty  of  the  press  was,  in  a  great  meas 
ure,  suppressed." 

For  the  threatening  and  abusive  language,  tending 
to  excite  the  angry  passions  of  the  mob,  indulged  in  by 
the  adherents  of  the  charter  government  towards  the 
conductors  of  the  suffrage  press,  the  committee  refer  to 
the  testimony. 

3.  The  third  branch  of  the  testimony  taken  by  the 
commissioner  relates  to  the  arrests,  searches,  and  acts 
of  violence  committed  upon  the  persons  and  property 
of  the  suffrage  citizens  of  Ehode  Island.  The  following 
are  the  most  striking  cases  :  — 

The  first  is  the  case  of  Leonard  Wakefield.  He  was 
a  Methodist  clergyman,  residing  in  Cumberland,  Rhode 
Island.  He  was  arrested  on  the  30th  day  of  June, 
184£,  (three  days  after  all  appearance  of  hostility  on 
the  part  of  Governor  Dorr  had  ceased,)  and  taken,  with 
twenty-one  other  prisoners,  to  Providence,  marched 
through  the  principal  streets  of  that  city  amid  the 
jeers  and  insults  of  the  mob,  committed  to  prison,  and 
confined  in  a  loathsome  cell  twelve  -feet  by  nine,  poorly 
ventilated,  with  fifteen  other  persons,  and  kept  on  an 
allowance  of  two  rations  of  stale  bread  and  meat  per 
day.  He  was  imprisoned  five  or  six  days,  and,  noth 
ing  appearing  against  him,  he  was  discharged.  He  was 
in  favor  of  the  suffrage  cause,  but  had  always  exhorted 
both  parties  not  to  resort  to  arms. 

Elias  Whipple  was  arrested  on  the  6th  day  of  July, 
confined  in  prison  for  the  space  of  thirty-one  days,  on  a 
charge  of  treason,  and  required  to  find  recognizance  in 
the  sum  of  $10,000,  which  he  succeeded  in  doing. 
The  grand  jury  found  no  bill  against  him.  He  had 
taken  no  part  in  the  conflict,  but  to  vote  for  the  consti 
tution  and  Governor  Dorr.  , 


242  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

Mehitable  Howard,  of  Cumberland,  a  female,  aged 
sixty-two  years,  was  grossly  assaulted  and  insulted. 
The  following  is  her  plain  and  simple  story,  exhibiting 
a  cowardly  ruffianism  on  the  part  of  her  assailants,  as 
disgraceful  to  humanity  as  it  was  unprovoked  and  un 
called  for.  She  says,  — 

"  On  the  29th  of  June,  1842,  in  the  morning,  be 
tween  five  and  six  o'clock,  Alfred  Ballou,  with  seven 
other  men,  all  armed  with  guns,  came  to  my  house  and 
entered  it,  I  forbidding  them  to  enter.  Myself  and 
grandchildren  were  the  only  persons  in  the  house.  He 
broke  the  door  open,  and  drove  it  off  the  hinges.  As 
Ballou  came  in,  he  seized  me  by  the  shoulders,  and 
shook  me  hard,  leaving  prints  where  he  took  hold  of 
me.  He  then  pushed  me,  and  pushed  me  against  a  post 
about  three  or  four  feet  from  where  I  was  standing, 
which  bruised  my  shoulder  very  much.  He  came  up  to 
me  again,  seized  me,  and  pushed  me  again  towards  the 
window,  saying,  f  Get  out  of  the  way,'  in  a  loud  voice. 
He  then  gave  me  a  shake,  and  left  me,  saying,  '  Where 
is  Liberty  ?  '  (meaning  my  son,)  '  and  where  is  the  gun  ?  ' 
He  went  up  stairs,  and  searched  the  chambers,  turning 
the  beds  over  in  which  the  little  children  were.  He 
then  came  down,  went  into  my  lodging  room,  and  took 
a  gun  and  carried  it  off.  I  was  much  overcome ;  but 
when  he  came  out,  I  said, '  I  don't  fear  you,  Mr.  Ballou.' 
He  then  came  up  to  me,  laid  his  hands  on  me,  shook 
me,  and  said,  in  a  very  loud  voice,  f  Do  you  know  that 
you  are  under  martial  law  ?  '  He  then  took  his  bayo 
net,  and  put  the  point  of  the  bayonet  against  the  pit  of 
my  stomach.  He  pressed  the  bayonet  against  me,  and 
said,  '  I  will  run  you  through,'  looking  very  angry  and 
spiteful.  The  point  of  the  bayonet  went  through  my 
clothes,  and  fractured  the  skin,  but  did  not  break  it,  but 
caused  the  blood  to  settle  the  size  of  a  ninepence,  or 
larger.  I  really  believed  at  the  time  he  intended  to  run 
me  through.  With  my  hand  I  knocked  the  bayonet 


THOMAS   WILSON  DORR.  243 

away,  and  he  stepped  back,  and  stood  and  looked  at  me 
with  a  stern  look,  and  then  went  out  of  the  house.  My 
husband  was  a  suffrage  man,  which  is  the  only  reason  I 
know  for  this  treatment.  Ballou  had  been  a  neighbor 
of  ours  for  near  forty  years.  He  was  a  charter  man. 
I  was  hurt  very  bad,  and  unable  to  do  much  work  for 
several  days  after,  and  have  never  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  the  shock  upon  my  system.  I  am  sixty-two 
years  of  age." 

Nehemiah  Knight  was  arrested  for  saying  it  was  "  a 
mean  business  to  shoot  Kilby."  He  was  again  arrested, 
and  marched  through  the  streets  of  Providence,  to  the 
armory,  by  a  gang  of  white  men  and  negroes  armed, 
(mainly  negroes,)  and  was  guarded  by  negroes.  He 
was  kept  in  confinement  two  days,  when,  nothing  ap 
pearing  against  him,  he  was  discharged. 

Elizabeth  Nutter  was  assaulted  and  rudely  treated  by 
one  of  an  armed  band  of  charter  men,  while  they  were 
searching  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Haswell,  where  she  re 
sided. 

Otis  Holmes,  a  citizen  of  Providence,  of  great  re 
spectability,  had  his  dwelling  house,  store,  and  brewery 
broken  open  by  a  band  of  armed  charter  men.  He 
offered  them  his  keys  ;  but  they  preferred  to  force  their 
way  by  violence.  After  searching  his  house,  store,  and 
brewery,  he  was  marched  off  —  two  men  holding  him 
by  the  collar,  while  another  walked  in  front,  with  a  pis 
tol,  to  the  office  of  Henry  L.  Bowen.  The  gang  con 
sisted  of  thirty  men  with  muskets.  He  made  no 
resistance  ;  he  heard  no  charges  against  him,  and,  with 
out  examination,  was  committed  to  jail,  where  he  re 
mained  seven  days ;  and  then,  without  examination,  he 
was  put  into  one  of  the  cells  of  the  state  prison,  with 
seven  others.  He  adds,  "  It  was  large  enough  for  us 
to  lie  down  by  lying  heads  and  points.  I  remained 
there  twenty-one  days.  The  suffering  was  extreme 
from  heat  and  want  of  air,  with  plenty  of  vermin.  The 


£44  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES    OF 

health  of  the  prisoners  suffered  materially.  During 
the  time,  I  was  examined  by  the  commissioners.  They 
charged  me  with  keeping  arms  to  aid  the  suffrage  cause. 
No  proof  was  shown.  I  was  remanded.  I  then  got 
a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  before  Judge  Staples  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  went  before  him  in  a  room  in  the 
jail,  and,  upon  a  hearing,  was  discharged.  I  was  then 
immediately  committed  by  the  sheriff,  on  a  warrant 
from  Henry  L.  Bowen,  on  a  charge  of  treason.  I  then 
applied  for  another  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  Judge 
Staples  ordered  to  be  heard  before  the  whole  court  at 
Newport.  I  was  there,  and  allowed  bail  in  the  sum  of 
$12,000,  with  sureties.  At  the  next  sitting  of  the 
court  in  the  county  of  Providence,  the  grand  jury  found 
no  bill  against  me,  and  I  was  discharged.  I  was  in 
close  prison  fifty-nine  days." 

Henry  Lord,  a  non-combatant,  was  taken  near  Acote's 
Hill,  marched  with  other  prisoners,  with  arms  pinioned, 
to  Providence,  and  there  confined  in  the  state  prison, 
with  thirteen  others,  in  a  cell  seven  feet  by  ten,  in 
which  he  was  kept  twenty-one  days,  and  discharged  on 
parole. 

The  house  of  Martin  Luther,  in  the  town  of  War 
ren,  was  broken  open  on  the  29th  of  June,  1842,  by 
nine  armed  charter  men,  and  the  female  inmates  rudely 
treated — their  lodging  rooms  being  broken  into  before 
they  had  time  to  put  on  their  necessary  clothing.  They 
used  violent  language  to  the  mother  of  Mr.  Luther, 
pointing  a  weapon  at  her  breast,  and  threatening  to 
"  run  her  through :>  if  she  did  not  tell  where  her,  son 
Martin  Was. 

Stafford  Healey,  a  hired  man  of  Mr.  Luther,  was,  at 
the  same  time  the  transaction  last  described  took  place, 
forcibly  seized  by  the  same  armed  men  who  broke  into 
Mr.  Luther's  house,  carried  to  jail,  where  he  was  con 
fined  seven  days,  and  then  discharged  —  nothing  ap 
pearing  against  him. 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  245 

Jedediah  Sprague  was  arrested  and  confined  in  prison 
twenty-two  days  on  a  charge  of  treason,  when,  nothing 
appearing  against  him,  he  was  discharged.  His  family 
were  also  grossly  maltreated  by  the  charter  military  at 
Chepatchet,  and  his  property  despoiled  and  forcibly 
taken  away  to  a  large  amount,  ($2546,  as  he  alleges,) 
which  he  has  never  been  able  to  recover,  and  for  which 
the  government  of  Rhode  Island  have,  as  yet,  allowed 
him  nothing.  For  a  particular  account  of  the  gross 
maltreatment  of  the  females  of  his  family  and  the 
plunder  of  his  property,  reference  is  made  to  his  testi 
mony.  (See  pages  156-166.)  Other  depredations  were 
also  committed  by  the  charter  troops  upon  the  property 
of  the  citizens  of  Chepatchet,  as  appears  by  the  testi 
mony. 

4.  The  fourth  and  last  matter  of  inquiry  was  the 
taking  of  Acote's  Hill,  Dorr's  post  at  Chepatchet ;  or 
ders  to  the  military ;  interference  of  the  United  States 
officers,  and  the  using  of  the  custom  house  at  Provi 
dence  as  a  place  of  deposit  for  military  stores  belonging 
to  the  charter  authorities.  Without  giving  a  digested 
abstract  of  the  testimony  under  the  last-mentioned 
heads,  the  committee  will  briefly  refer  to  the  facts 
which  it  establishes. 

They  will  first  give  an  account  of  the  capture  of 
Acote's  Hill.  It  appears  from  the  testimony  that  the  en 
campment  of  Governor  Dorr  was  broken  up  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  27th  of  June,  1842.  This  fact  the  charter 
government  had  learned  from  the  intercepted  order  of 
Governor  Dorr  disbanding  his  forces  ;  and,  of  course,  be 
fore  a  soldier  was  ordered  by  them  to  Chepatchet,  there 
was  no  enemy  to  meet,  no  fighting  to  be  done,  and  no 
honors  to  be  won  by  the  toil  and  blood  of  battle.  The 
troops,  therefore,  were  sent  to  capture  a  deserted  fort  — 
an  achievement  which  they  performed  with  a  chivalrous 
heroism  which  became  an  enterprise  so  desperate,  as 
21* 


£46  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

will  be  seen  by  the  following  account  of  the  incidents 
connected  with  the  expedition.  On  the  morning  of  the 
28th,  the  charter  troops  arrived  from  Providence.  As 
they  approached,  they  discharged  their  pieces  at  persons 
indiscriminately,  whom  they  happened  to  see,  and  cap 
turing  such  persons-  as  they  took  a  fancy  to  capture. 
There  was  no  person  in  the  encampment  of  Governor 
Dorr,  and  nobody  in  arms  in  or  about  the  hill,  and  no  re 
sistance  whatever  was  offered  by  any  one  to  the  charter 
force.  Having  made  their  bloodless  assault  upon  the 
dismantled  fortress,  they  returned  to  a  hotel  near  by, 
where  several  persons  were  captured  and  confined,  and 
sundry  acts  of  violence  and  insult  to  peaceable  citizens 
were  committed.  The  scene  is  thus  described  by  Mr. 
Joseph  Holbrook,  a  gentleman  residing  in  Boston,  who 
was  an  eye  witness.  He  says,  "  An  advance  of  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-five  men,  of  the  charter  troops,  (so 
called,)  came  up  to  the  hotel;  the  main  body  of  a 
division  of  about  seven  hundred  men  not  being  then  in 
sight.  The  advance  party  were  armed  with  rifles  or 
carbines,  and  swords,  and  pistols  ;  and  as  they  ap 
proached  at  double-quick  time,  they  fired  their  pieces, 
without  any  apparent  cause  or  the  least  provocation,  at 
any  persons  they  saw  indiscriminately.  When  this  ad 
vance  party  came  up  to  the  hotel,  I  inquired  of  one  of 
them  who  commanded  the  party ;  and  life  said  Lieutenant 
Pitman,  and  pointed  him  out  to  me.  From  what  I 
then  learned  and  saw,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that 
this  person  was  Mr.  Pitman,  the  clerk  of  the  United 
States  courts  of  Rhode  Island.  I  said  there  was  no 
need  of  violence.  Several  persons  were  standing  in 
the  entry  of  the  hotel,  the  front  door  being  open.  There 
was  no  show  of  resistance,  and  nothing  to  make  it  with. 
One  of  the  persons  in  the  -entry  was  recognize!!,  by  the 
men  who  came  up,  as  Mr.  Eddy,  a  suffrage  man,  as  I 
then  understood.  He  was  called  by  name,  and  ordered 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  247 

to  come  out.  He  replied  that  he  should  not.  Two  of 
the  armed  party  then  rushed  into  the  house,  to  force 
him  out.  A  scuffle  ensued  between  them  in  the  entry, 
and  the  front  door  was  accidentally  shut.  Lieutenant  Pit 
man,  observing  this,  gave  the  door  a  kick  with  his  foot, 
but  it  did  not  open ;  he  then  levelled  and  took  aim  with 
his  carbine,  and  appeared  to  be  going  to  discharge  it. 
Seeing  this,  I  caught  him  by  the  shoulder,  and  begged 
of  him  not  to  fire,  as  he  might  kill  some  of  his  own 
men,  as  well  as  others.  He  replied,  f  I  don't  care  a  God 
damn,  if  I  can  kill  somebody/  and  instantly  fired.  A 
ball  passed  through  the  key-hole  of  the  front  door,  and 
took  effect  in  the  thigh  of  Horace  Bardine ;  and  I  saw 
him  in  a  few  minutes  coming  from  the  house,  led  by  two 
men,  and  shot  in  the  thigh.  Lieutenant  Pitman's  party 
charged  upon  them  as  soon  as  they  appeared,  and  were 
forced  back  ;  and  I  did  not  see  Bardine  afterwards." 

Another  witness  (Colonel  Mitchell,  of  Boston)  gives 
substantially  the  same  account  of  the  conduct  of  the 
charter  troops  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  and  states 
the  additional  fact,  that  Colonel  Bankhead,  of  the  United 
States  army,  was  there  in  company  with,  the  charter 
troops. 

The  next  day,  after  picking  up  as  many  stragglers  as 
they  could  find  to  swell  their  triumph,  the  charter  army 
returned  to  the  city  of  Providence  with  their  prisoners 
in  charge,  and  the  spoils  and  plunder  of  the  enemy. 
The  finale  of  this  celebrated  military  enterprise  is  thus 
described  by  Henry  Lord,  a  man  sixty  years  of  age, 
who  was  among  the  captives.  The  troops  had  in 
charge  about  one  hundred  prisoners,  all  unarmed  men, 
whom  they  had  picked  up  by  the  wayside  in  their 
march  from  Providence.  He  says,  "  The  next  morn 
ing,  we  were  mustered  and  tied  together  with  large  bed 
cords.  The  rope  was  passed  in  a  close  hitch  around 
each  man's  arm,  passing  behind  his  back,  and  fastening 


248  THE   LIFE   ANU>   TIMES   OF 

him  close  to  his  neighbor,  there  being  eight  thus  tied 
together  in  each  platoon.  We  had  no  use  of  the  arm 
above  the  elbow.  In  this  way  we  were  marched  on 
foot  to  Providence,  sixteen  miles;  threatened  and 
pricked  by  the  bayonet  if  we  lagged  from  fatigue,  the 
ropes  severely  chafing  our  arms ;  the  skin  was  off  of 
mine.  In  two  instances,  when  the  soldiers  were  halted, 
we  were  refused  the  use  of  their  cups  to  get  water  from 
the  brook  which  passed  the  road,  and  had  no  water  till 
we  reached  Greenville,  about  eight  miles.  It  was  a  very 
hot  day  ;  I  had  had  no  water  or  breakfast  that  morning, 
and  I  received  no  food  until  the  next  day  in  Provi 
dence.  We  were  marched  thus  tied  through  the  streets, 
and,  after  being  exhibited,  were  put  into  the  state  prison. 
Fourteen  were  put  into  my  cell,  which  was  seven  feet 
by  ten.  After  remaining  in  prison  twenty -five  days,  I 
was  released  on  parole."  —  (See  Lord's  testimony,  page 
140.) 

Such  was  the  achievement  of  the  charter  troops  at 
Chepatchet,  and  such  the  exhibition  they  made  in  their 
march  of  triumph  through  the  streets  of  Providence ! 

The  testimony  under  the  last-named  head  proves  also 
the  following  important  facts-,  namely  :  — 

That  the  United  States  troops  at  Fort  Adams  were 
provided  with  ammunition,  flints,  and  haversacks  to 
carry  rations.  Provisions  were  also  prepared  for  them 
for  two  days'  service.  They  were  daily  inspected,  and 
in  every  respect  prepared  for  active  service,  and  were 
given  to  understand  by  their  officers  that  they  were  to 
act  on  the  charter  side  against  the  suffrage  cause. 

That  the  magazine  at  Fort  Adams  was  used  as  a  de 
pository  for  powder  belonging  to  the  charter  govern 
ment,  which  was  taken  away  from  time  to  time.' 

That  cartridges  for  cannon,  and  United  States  mus 
kets,  were  delivered  to  the  charter  troops  from  the 
United  States  magazine  at  Fort  Adams. 

That  the  United  States  custom  house  at  Providence 


THOMAS   WILSON    DOER.  249' 

was  made  a  depot  of  arms  and  accoutrements  by  the 
charter  authorities. 

That  the  following  officers  and  persons  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States  took  an  active  part  on  the  charter 
side,  bearing  arms  and  serving  in  the  military,  viz. : 
John  Pitman,  United  States  judge  for  the  district  of 
Khode  Island;  John  S.  Pitman,  clerk  of  the  United 
States  courts  ;  Edward  J.  Mallet,  postmaster  at  Provi 
dence  ;  William  R.  Watson,  United  States  collector ; 
Sylvester  Hartshorn,  United  States  marshal;  Richard 
W.  Greene,  United  States  district  attorney ;  Peleg 
Aborn,  United  States  surveyor  \  Remington  Arnold,  in 
spector  of  customs ;  and  Elisha  H.  Rhodes,  United 
States  boatman.  All  these  individuals  were  seen  in 
arms  in  the  ranks  of  the  charter  troops,  and  Edward  J. 
Mallet  and  Sylvester  Hartshorn  were  particularly  offi 
cious  in  heading  armed  men  and  searching  the  houses 
of  citizens  belonging  to  the  suffrage  party.  For  the 
details  of  which,  the  committee  must  refer  to  the  testi 
mony  taken  by  the  commissioner. 

It  is  also  proved  that  arms  belonging  to  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  were  provided  for  the  use  of  the  charter 
troops;  "and  it  is  also  in  proof  that  boxes  of  accoutre 
ments  marked  "  U.  S.  A.,"  and  belts  bearing  the  Ini 
tials  of  the  United  States,  were  among  the  deposits 
of  arms  at  the  custom  house  in  Providence.  This,  and 
other  facts  proved  in  the  course  of  the  investigation, 
leave  no  doubt  on  the  minds  of  the  committee  that  both 
arms  and  ammunition  were  supplied  to  the  charter  troops 
from  the  stores  of  the  United  States. 

The  testimony  shows  that,  especially  after  the  decla 
ration  of  martial  law,  the  most  lawless  and  outrageous 
proceedings,  on  the  side  of  the  charter  party,  took 
place  in  reference  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the 
suffrage  party.  Every  individual  of  the  former  party 
seemed  to  imagine  himself  clothed  with  a  license  to 


250  THE   LIFE   AND  TIMES  OP 

invade  the  domiciles  of  the  latter,  seize  and  injure  their 
property,  and  commit  assaults  upon  their  persons. 
Never  in  the  history  of  this  country  were  the  rights  of 
the  minority,  in  a  political  quarrel,  so  grossly  disre 
garded  and  so  wantonly  violated.  And  never  in  our 
annals  were  such  outrages  perpetrated,  even  under  the 
iron  rule  of  martial  law.  The  committee  have  given 
but  few  of  the  instances  of  insult  and  outrage  upon 
persons  and  property  which  have  come  to  their  knowl 
edge  in  the  course  of  their  investigations  ;  a  full  detail 
of  which  would  require  more  time  and  space  than  they 
could  devote  to  this  portion  of  their  report.  And  they 
are  bound,  in  justice  to  the  suffrage  party,  to  say  that, 
during  all  their  trials,  so  well  calculated  to  exhaust 
their  forbearance,  they  were  guilty  of  no  bloodshed  nor 
personal  violence.  Their  fellow-citizens  of  the  charter 
side  suffered  neither  in  person  nor  property  by  their 
acts. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  committee  cannot  forbear,  in  concluding  the 
views  which  they  have  very  hastily,  and  therefore 
crudely  and  imperfectly,  thrown  together  in  relation  to 
the  questions  of  fact  and  of  right  connected  with  the 
suffrage  movement  in  Rhode  Island,  to  submit  a  few 
remarks  designed  to  awaken  the  House,  and,  through 
the  House,  the  American  people,  to  the  transcendent 
importance  of  the  great  leading  question  involved  in 
this  inquiry,  viz. :  THE  INHERENT  SOVEREIGN  RIGHT  OF 

THE    PEOPLE   TO  CHANGE  AND    REFORM    THEIR   EXISTING 
GOVERNMENTS    AT    PLEASURE. 

It  is  the  solemn  conviction  of  their  minds,  that  upon 
the  full,  free,  and  universal  acknowledgment  of  this 
sacred  right,  in  this  and  in  every  other  country  pre 
tending*  to  be  free,  the  liberties  of  the  people  depend. 
For  if  they  surrender  this  great  principle,  and  admit 
that  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state  does  not  reside  in 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  251 

them,  but  in  the  political  organization,  or  actual  exist 
ing  government,  and  that  they  cannot  correct  the  de 
fects  in  the  original  organic  forms  of  government,  or 
cannot  abolish  them  and  substitute  others  in  their  places, 
without  the  consent  of  the  existing  government,  what 
defence  have  they  against  the  encroachments  of  those  in 
power,  either  by  actual  and  forcible  usurpation,  or  false 
and  insidious  construction  of  the  fundamental  law  ? 
What  ramparts  exist  against  the  approaches  of  despotic 
power  ?  In  what  does  the  doctrine  that  the  people 
cannot  resort  to  their  ultimate  right  of  sovereignty, 
without  the  consent  of  the  existing  authorities  of  a  state, 
as  contended  for  by  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
differ  in  substance  and  essence  from  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  openly  preached  in  the  dark  ages  of  European 
despotism  ? 

The  committee  feel  more  deeply  the  importance  of 
this  subject  of  their  investigation,  from  the  great  and  im 
minent  danger  which  now  threatens  the  invaluable  con 
servative  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  upon  which, 
in  their  humble  belief,  the  whole  fabric  of  the  American 
system  of  republican  government  is  reared.  They  have 
seen,  with  deep  regret  .and  anxious  alarm,  the  principle 
for  which  they  are  contending  openly  scoffed  down  and 
repudiated  by  one  of  the  great  political  parties  into 
which  the  people  of  this  country  are  divided.  They 
have  seen  it  smothered  by  the  leaders  of  that  party  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  who  refused  to  listen 
to  the  complaints  of  the  aggrieved  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  or  to  make  an  effort  to  stay  the  executive  arm 
of  the  government,  when  it  was  unlawfully  levelled 
against  them  and  their  cause.  (See  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Allen,  of  Ohio,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on 
the  Rhode  Island  question,  page  #57.)  And,  lastly, 
they  have  seen  one  of  the  leaders  of  that  party,  now  their 
acknowledged  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  American  people,  arraying  himself  against  the 


25 £  THE   LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

cause  of  free  government,  and  denying  and  repudiating, 
in  his  open  approval  of  the  course  of  the  president  in 
the  late  difficulties  in  Rhode  Island,  the  great  principle 
upon  which  all  free  governments  must  be  founded, 

Viz.,    THE     SOVEREIGNTY    OF     THE     PEOPLE.       When    the 

committee  witness  the  spectacle  of  a  large  and  pow 
erful  party,  individually  and  collectively,  through  its 
organized  political  bodies,  and  its  head  and  leader 
avowing  openly  and  undisguisedly  doctrines  inimical 
to  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  principles  of 
free  government,  they  cannot  but  be  deeply  alarmed 
for  the  safety  and  perpetuity  of  our  republican  institu 
tions.  Therefore  it  is,  that  they  look  upon  the  ques 
tion  presented  to  the  House  and  the  country,  by  the 
people  of  Rhode  Island,  as  the  most  solemn  and  mo 
mentous  in  its  character  of  any  that  has  arisen  since 
the  American  revolution.  On  its  decision  by  the 
American  people  depends  the  ultimate  fate  of  free  gov 
ernments,  and  the  weal  or  woe  of  countless  millions 
destined  to  fill  the  places  which  we  fill,  and  in  their  ap 
propriate  time  become  the  watchmen  and  guardians  of 
the  temple  of  liberty,  and  the  venerable  and  sacred 
monuments  which  it  contains. 

The  committed  are  aware  that  it  is  alleged  against  the 
investigation  in  which  they  have  been  engaged,  that  no 
good  can  result  from  it.  It  is  urged  that  the  events 
which  have  given  rise  to  it  are  past  and  gone,  and  no 
practical  results  can  be  attained  by  agitating  the  matter 
at  this  day.  It  is  urged  that,  even  if  it  were  to  ap 
pear  that  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  were  right  in  the 
principle  they  contended  for,  no  remedy  could  now  be 
extended  to  them;  and,  therefore,  it  is  best  that  the 
wrongs  they  have  suffered  should  be  permitted  to  slum 
ber  undisturbed  in  the  dark  tomb  of  events,  which  have 
lived  their  brief  moment,  and  passed  away  to.be  buried 
and  forgotten.  But  is  it  not  of  some  consequence  that 
the  great  principle  involved  in  the  suffrage  movement 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  253 

should  be  defined  and  settled,  even  if  no  other  benefit 
can  result  from  this  investigation  ?  Is  it  not  of.  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  people  of  the  several  states 
of  this  Union  should  be  apprised  of  the  views  of  Con 
gress  (which  has  an  ultimate  supervision  over  all  their 
constitutions)  in  relation  to  the  great  question  of  their 
right  to  change  and  reform  them,  that  they  may  know 
how  far  they  may  be  permitted  to  exercise  this  right, 
and  in  what  mode,  and  under  what  restrictions  ?  It  is 
for  the  want  of  this  very  knowledge  that  a  large  major 
ity  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  have  been  involved 
in  all  the  consequences  of  alleged  treason,  and  many  of 
them  actually  indicted  and  prosecuted,  with  a  view  to 
subject  them  to  its  terrible  penalties.  It  is  for  the  want 
of  this  knowledge  that  they  have  been  denounced  as 
rebels  and  insurgents,  and  have  been  conquered  and 
subdued  by  the  government  which  they  believed  was 
ruling  over  them  without  right,  aided  by  the  military 
power  of  the  Union. 

The  people  of  Rhode  Island,  in  common  with  the 
whole  body  of  the  American  people,  confided  in  the 
assurance  contained  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
that  they  had  a  right  to  alter  or  abolish  existing  forms 
of  government,  and  institute  other  forms  in  their  places. 
They  saw  this  great  right  proclaimed  in  the  constitu 
tions  of  twenty  of  the  sovereign  states  of  this  Union  ; 
they  saw  it  promulgated,  in  clear  and  emphatic  terms, 
by  all  the  great  writers  upon  the  subject  of  free  govern 
ment  ;  and  they  had  no  doubt  it  was  their  right.  And 
is  it  for  a  moment  to  be  supposed  that  the  majority  of 
the  people  of  a  state,  comprising  in  its  ranks  many  of 
its  best  and  purest  citizens,  would  have  incurred  the 
perils  of  treason,  and  exposed  themselves  to  the  odious 
charge  of  insurrection  and  rebellion,  and  all  their  train 
of  penalties,  persecutions,  and  disgrace,  on  the  pretence 
of  exercising  a  great  right,  without  entertaining  an  hon- 
22 


254  THE   LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

est  and  sincere  belief  that  they  possessed  it  ?  And,  if 
they  have  not  this  right,  is  it  not  due  to  justice  and 
humanity  that  these  deluded  people  should  be  disabused 
of  their  delusions,  and  taught  the  unwholesome  truth 
that  they  are  the  subjects  of  government,  and  not  its 
sovereigns,  and  that  they  cannot  meddle  with  its  fun 
damental  forms,  without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of 
those  who  happen  to  possess,  for  the  time  being,  the 
offices  and  power  of  government  ?  In  the  belief  of  the 
committee,  it  is  due  to  the  unfortunate  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  whose  honest  motives  have  led  them  to  incur 
the  sufferings  and  persecutions  of  which  they  are  now 
the  victims,  as  well  as  to  the  American  people  at  large, 
who  may,  from  the  same  view  (true  or  mistaken)  of 
their  rights,  incur  the  same  penalties  and  persecutions, 
to  settle  the-  question  of  the  right  of  the  people  over 
their  governments,  which  hitherto  they  have  supposed 
existed  in  their  own  consent,  and  were  instituted  for 
their  own  benefit.  For  this  reason,  if  no  other  could 
be  assigned,  the  committee  believe  the  investigation 
with  which  they  have  been  charged  will  be  attended 
with  beneficial  results,  not  only  to  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  who  are  immediately  interested,  but  to  the 
people  of  the  whole  Union,  whose  rights  are  involved 
in  the  issue  of  this  question. 

And  they  exult  in  the  belief  that  their  views  and 
opinions  touching  the  important  matters  involved  in 
this  inquiry  have  been  so  decidedly  expressed  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  in  relation  to  their  character.  They  do 
not  hesitate  to  avow,  in  the  most  emphatic  terms,  their 
profound  and  conscientious  conviction  that  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island  were  right  in  the  principle  on  which 
they  acted  in  their  late  effort  to  establish  a  republican 
constitution  in  place  of  the  old  charter,  under  which 
they  had  so  long  lived.  They  believe  that  the  doc 
trines  promulgated  by  the  president,  in  relation  to  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  such  cases,  and  the  aid  given  by 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR  £55 

the  executive  of  the  United  States  to  the  charter  authori 
ties,  by  which  they  were  enabled  to  conquer  the  people 
and  suppress  their  government,  are  at  war  with  the 
great  principle  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  free 
government,  and  not  warranted  by  the  constitution. 
The  committee  believe  that  the  president,  in  sustaining 
the  pretensions  of  a  government  which  had  been  abol 
ished  by  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  and  which  held 
its  power  by  direct  and  flagrant  usurpation,  has  inflicted 
a  blow  upon  the  cause  of  popular  rights,  for  which  a 
long  life  of  meritorious  service  cannot  atone.  And  that 
the  evil  example  set  in  this  matter  by  the  executive 
may  not  hereafter  be  regarded  as  a  precedent  for  sim 
ilar  invasions  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  on  the  part  of 
those  wfyo  may  be  clothed  with  the  dignity  and  power 
of  the  presidential  office,  they  recommend  to  the  House 
to  impress  upon  it  the  seal  of  its  most  decided  and  em 
phatic  condemnation. 

In  accordance  with  the  facts  found  in  the  matter  sub 
mitted  to  the  committee  by  the  House,  and  the  princi 
ples  endeavored  to  be  maintained  by  them,  they  report, 
for  the  consideration  of  the  House,  the  accompanying 
resolutions. 

Resolved,  That  all  free  men,  when  they  form  the 
social  compact,  are  equal ;  and  that  no  man,  or  set  of 
men,  are  entitled  to  exclusive,  separate,  public  emolu 
ments  or  privileges  from  the  community. 

Resolved,  That  all  power  is  inherent  in  the  people, 
and  all  free  governments  are  founded  on  their  authority, 
and  instituted  for  their  peace,  safety,  and  happiness  ; 
and  for  these  ends  they  have  at  all  times  an  unalienable 
and  indefeasible  right  to  alter,  reform,  or  abolish  their 
government,  in  such  manner  as  they  may  think  proper. 

Resolved,  That  the  sovereign  power  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island  is  inherent  in  the  people  thereof;  and 
that  they  have  at  all  times  the  unalienable  and  inde 
feasible  right  to  alter,  reform,  or  abolish  their  govern- 


256  THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

ment,  in  such  manner  as  they  may  think  proper ;  and  that 
any  constitution  or  frame  of  government,  republican  in 
its  form,  adopted  by  them,  is  entitled  to  the  guarantee 
of  the  United  States,  until  abrogated  by  an  act  of  said 
people,  as  solemn  and  authentic  as  that  by  which  it  was 
adopted. 

Resolved,  That  the  constitution  adopted  in  December, 
1841,  by  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  is  republican  in 
its  form,  and  was  rightfully  adopted  by  a  majority  of 
said  people,  and,  as  such,  was  entitled  to  the  guarantee 
of  the  United  States  until  it  was  virtually  surrendered 
by  the  assent  of  said  people  to  the  existing  constitution 
of  said  state,  as  indicated  by  the  act  of  registering  their 
names  and  voting  in  the  first  general  election  under 
said  last-mentioned  constitution. 

Resolved,  That  the  government  established  under  the 
constitution  adopted  by  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  in 
December,  1841,  and  duly  organized  according  to  its 
provisions,  was,  until  the  said  constitution  was  surren 
dered  by  the  assent  of  the  people  to  the  existing  con 
stitution,  the  legitimate  constitutional  government  of 
said  state ;  and  that  all  acts,  laws,  and  proceedings  of 
said  government,  under  said  constitution  of  1841,  and 
in  accordance  therewith,  and  the  records  thereof,  are 
entitled  to  full  faith  and  credit  in  all  the  other  states  of 
the  Union,  and  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  interference  by  the  president  of 
the  United  States  with  the  military  power  of  the  Union, 
on  the  side  of  the  late  charter  government  of  Rhode 
Island,  against  the  constitution  adopted  in  1841,  and 
by  which  the  same  was  suppressed,  was  unauthorized 
by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
in  derogation  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island. 

Resolved,  That  John  Pitman,  United  States  judge  for 
the  district  of  Rhode  Island  ;  John  T.  Pitman,  clerk 
of  the  United  States  courts  for  the  district  of  Rhode 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR,  257 

Island ;  Edward  J.  Mallet,  postmaster  at  Providence  ; 
William  R.  Watson,  collector  of  customs  at  the  port 
of  Providence  ;  Sylvester  Hartshorn,  marshal  of  the 
United  States  for  the  district  of  Rhode  Island ;  Richard 
W.  Greene,  attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  dis 
trict  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Peleg  Aborn,  surveyor  at  the 
port  of  Pawtuxet ;  Remington  Arnold,  inspector  of 
customs  ;  and  Elisha  H,  Rhodes,  United  States  boat 
man  at  said  port  of  Pawtuxet,  by  personally  interfering 
with  arms,  in.  a  military  capacity,  in  the  late  political 
contest  of  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  growing  out  of 
the  attempt  to  establish  a  constitution  for  said  state, 
have  been  guilty  of  conduct  unauthorized  by  the  consti 
tution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  of  evil  example, 
and  tending  to  compromit  the  government  of  the  United 
States  in  its  relations  with  the  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
and  to  produce  forcible  collision  between  the  people  of 
said  state  and  the  authorities  of  the  United  States,  at  the 
imminent  hazard  of  involving  the  whole  Union  in  the 
calamities  and  horrors  of  civil  war. 

The  foregoing  report  was  signed  by  Hon.  Edmund 
Burke,  chairman  of  the  select  committee. 

The  following  speech  was  made  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  on  the  17th  of  May,  1842,  by  Mr.  Allen, 
of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Allen  said  he  proposed,  before  he  sat  down,  to 
submit  two  other  resolutions ;  and,  in  doing  so,  he 
would  offer  to  the  Senate  some  reasons  upon  which 
those  resolutions  were  founded.  He  believed  this  had 
been  the  habitual  practice  in"  the  Senate ;  and  he  hoped 
that,  in  this  case,  he  would  not  be  prevented  from  fol 
lowing  the  same  practice.  He  would  read,  in  the  hear 
ing  of  the  Senate,  the  resolutions  which  he  proposed  to 
offer,  in  order  that  the  Senate  might  judge  of  their 
propriety.  He  found  upon  the  files  of  the  Senate  a 
document  containing  a  series  of  resolutions  passed  by 
22* 


258  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  by  which 
the  governor  of  that  state  was  requested  to  inform  the 
president  of  the  United  States,  and  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress,  that  a  new  system  of  government  had  been 
adopted  in  that  state,  and  was  now  in  full  operation. 
It  had,  therefore,  been  brought  officially  to  the  notice 
of  the  Senate  that  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  had 
adopted  a  constitutional  form  of  government,  and  that 
that  government  is  now  in  full  operation.  This  com 
munication  left  the  Senate  no  alternative ;  they  could 
not  close  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that  there  were,  at  this 
time,  two  governments  in  actual  existence  within  that 
state — one  of  which  must  be  right,  and  the  other 
wrong.  In  this  state  of  affairs  the  president  of  the 
United  States  had  assumed  to  himself  the  power  and 
authority  of  deciding  this  vital  and  momentous  ques 
tion,  by  pledging  himself  to  support  the  old  form  of 
government,  established  under  the  charter  granted  by 
Charles  the  Second,  and  against  that  government  deter 
mined  upon  and  adopted  by  the  people.  This  being 
the  state  of  the  facts,  it  was.  a  question  of  propriety  and 
of  power  with  the  Senate  to  take  into  consideration  — 
when  informed  of  these  facts  by  authority,  real  or  pre 
tended,  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  knowing  the 
course  which  the  president  of  the  United  States  had 
taken  in  the  matter  —  whether.it  was  consistent  with 
the  duty  which  they  owed  to  the  constitution  of  the 
country  to  remain  quiet  spectators  of  a  civil  war,  in 
which  the  powers  of  the  federal  government  were  to 
be  brought  to  bear  against  the  constitution  which  the 
people  had  formed  for  themselves,  and  in  support  of 
that  charter  which  had  been  rendered  null  and  void  by 
the  American  revolution,  and  under  which,  since  the 
period  of  the  revolution,  that  state  had  no  right  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  an  integral  portion  of  this 
Union,  of  a  sovereign  state,  or  to  send  senators  or 
representatives  to  this  Congress.  They  had  no  more 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  259 

right  to  take  part  in  the  legislation  of  this  Union  than 
they  had  to  sit  and  legislate  in  the  British  Parliament. 
Sir,  said  Mr.  A.,  the  question  is  one  of  serious  import. 
More  —  infinitely  more  —  important  is  it  than  any  ques 
tion  of  a  bank,  a  tariff,  or  any  question  of  national 
policy  which  can  arise  under  our  form  of  government. 
It  is  a  question  upon  which  rests  the  whole  system  of 
the  civil  government  of  this  country,  and  of  the  civil 
liberties  of  its  people.  The  president  of  the  United 
States  has  undertaken  to  decide  the  question  for  the 
American  people  —  and  that,  too,  against  the  people 
themselves.  Well,  sir,  I  sai'd,  and  I  repeat  it,  and  it  is 
with  no  unkind  feelings  towards  any  one ;  for  reasons 
for  such  feeling  I  have  none,  but  for  the  contrary  feeling 
I  have  many  ;  but  to  illustrate  the  bearing  of  a  great 
truth  —  a  truth  which  has  shaken  the  globe  itself,  and 
which  I  hope  will  continue  to  govern  the  world  as  long 
as  it  continues  its  revolutions  upon  its  axis.  I  say 
again,  there  was  no  constitutional  form  of  government 
in  Rhode  Island,  by  which  that  community  could  be 
considered  to  be  properly  a  member  of  this  Union,  until 
the  constitutional  form  of  government  was  framed  and 
established,  and  brought  into  being,  May  3,  1842. 

Sir,  what  is  the  state  of  this  matter  ?  The  old  thir 
teen  states  of  this  confederacy  consisted  of  what  were, 
prior  to  1776,  the  thirteen  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  of 
which  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  was 
one.  A  revolt  took  place  among  the  colonies  ;  that 
revolt  assumed  the  form  and  bore  the  aspect  of  a  war ; 
as  such,  it  was  prosecuted  to  its  final,  its  successful,  its 
glorious  termination.  This  war  was  so  begun,  prose 
cuted,  and  ended,  with  the  express  view  on  the  part  of 
the  colonists  of  absolving  themselves,  in  the  language 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  from  all"  allegiance 
to  the  throne  of  Great  Britain.  The  war  was  success 
ful  ;  American  independence  was  purchased  by  Ameri- 1 
can  blood.  All  political  connection  with  Great  Britain 


&60  THE     LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

ceased  to  exist,  and  it  was  made  an  essential  part  of 
that  instrument  by  which  the  states  were  declared  free, 
that  they  were  to  be  considered  also  sovereign  and  inde 
pendent.  To  this  declaration  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  stands  pledged,  because  that  declaration  was 
necessarily  submitted  to,  and  confirmed  by,  the  legisla 
ture  of  that  state. 

Yes,  sir,  the  legislature  of  Rhode  Island  confirmed 
that  declaration  by  a  solemn  resolve,  forever  absolving 
themselves  from  all  connection  with,  or  relation  to, 
British  authority.  Well,  sir,  after  the  state  had  thus 
annulled  the  charter  of  Charles  II.  of  Great  Britain, 
by  this  revolution  and  this  declaration,  where  did  they 
obtain  their  right  to  have  a  government  independent  of 
the  people,  in  whom,  by  the  new  constitution  of  these 
United  States,  the  sovereignty  was  vested  ?  The  char 
ter  did*  not  provide  for  its  own  amendment  or  for  its 
own  modification ;  it  was  an  emanation  from  the  throne 
of  Great  Britain,  and  could  only  be  modified,  changed, 
or  in  any  way  affected  by  the  throne  itself,  or  by  an  act 
of  the  British  Parliament.  And  it  is  the  most  extraor 
dinary  political  anomaly*  that  has  characterized  this 
extraordinary  age,  that,  sixty  years  after  the  annulling  of 
the  charter  by  the  revolution,  the  president  of  the 
American  republic  is  called  on  to  give  life  and  vitality 
to  it  again.  That  charter  was  predicated  upon  the  alle 
giance  of  that  community  to  the  British  crown  ;  and  it 
existed  with  the  restriction  that  the  laws,  rules,  and 
regulations  of  the  Governor  and  Company  should  not 
contravene  the  laws  and  statutes  of  Great  Britain  ;  and 
that  one  fifth  of  the  precious  metals  to  be  found  in  the 
soil  was  the  property  of  the  British  government,  and  to 
be  paid  into  the  British  treasury.  Well,  what  became 
of  their  allegiance  to  "the  British  government  when  they 
lifted  the  sword  of  revolution  ?  It  was  destroyed  ;  the 
relation  was  severed,  the  charter  was  dissolved.  How 
was  this  dissolution  effected  ?  By  authority  of  the 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  £61 

British  crown?  No,  sir;  by  the  people  themselves. 
And  can  the  British  charter  be  restored  by  American 
legislation  ?  No,  sir ;  because  it  was  founded  upon  the 
existence  of  British  supremacy.  Can  the  state  itself 
give  vitality  to  the  charter  ?  I  answer,  no  ;  because  it 
would  be  inconsistent  with  American  independence. 
And  here  let  me  be  permitted  to  say  that,  inasmuch  as 
it  cannot  be  binding  upon  the  state,  it  cannot  upon  any 
part  of  the  state.  If  the  whole  cannot  revive  it, 
neither  can  a  majority,  and  much  less  can  a  minority. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  the  people  of  Rhode  Island, 
if  they  were  unanimous  to  a  man,  to  revive  it.  They 
are  bound  to  treat  it  as  a  dead  letter  ;  and  this  obliga 
tion  binds  the  legislature  as  firmly  as  it  binds  the  peo 
ple.  If  the  charter  still  lives,  it  is  because  it  is  inde 
structible,  and  must  live  forever ;  and  if  it  does  not  exist, 
as  I  contend,  there  results  this  appalling  consequence  — 
that  the  whole  government  of  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  from  the  revolution  up  to  the  3d  of  May,  1842, 
has  been  a  sheer,  a  downright,  a  blasphemous  usurpa 
tion.  Yes,  sir,  a  usurpation ;  for  after  the  revolution 
was  accomplished,  the  charter  was  dead.  The  declara 
tion  of  American  independence  took  place,  and  the 
revolution  followed ;  every  thing  that  was  British  — 
every  vestige  of  British  power  and  authority  —  perished. 
It  was  entirely  cut  off  from  the  face  of  this  continent. 
How,  then,  has  this  form  of  government  continued  to 
exist  ?  It  could  only  be  in  this  way :  At  the  time 
when  the  revolution  closed,  it  is  probable  that  the  num 
ber  of  those  having  rights  confirmed  to  them  by  the 
charter  amounted  to  a  majority  of  the  population,  and 
they  were  willing  that  the  charter  should  stand,  that 
they  might  enjoy  the  benefits  of  freeholders,  and  be  the 
lords  and  masters  of  the  increasing  multitudes  by  whom 
the  state  became  speedily  populated.  There  is  one 
peculiarity  about  this  state  of  things,  to  which  an  Ameri 
can  cannot  close  his  eyes  —  that  it  is  an  exact  inversion 


262  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

of  our  political  institutions.  It  leaves  it  in  the  power 
of  the  legislature  to  declare  who  shall  have  the  privilege 
of  voting ;  and,  consequently,  they  may  pass  a  law 
excluding  every  one  but  themselves  —  perpetuating  to 
themselves  and  to  their  descendants  the  privilege,  and 
excluding  all  others.  The  sovereignty  is  thus  vested  in 
the  agent,  and  not  in  the  principal  —  in  the  representa 
tives  of  the  people,  and  not  in  the  people  themselves. 
Well,  sir,  under  these  circumstances,  what  did  the 
people  of  Rhode  Island  gain  by  the  revolution  ? 
They  thought  they  were  struggling  to  exchange  British 
authority  for  the  rights  of  civil  liberty.  Yet  we  see  the 
great  body  of  the  people  —  three  fifths,  at  least,  of  the 
entire  population  —  being  disfranchised,  left  to  the 
remaining  two  fifths  the  power  of  governing.  But  we 
have  seen  that  the  people  have  regenerated  the  govern 
ment —  have  thrown  off  this  usurpation  under  which 
they  have  so  long  been  deprived  of  their  rights  ;  and  I 
will  here  ask,  By  what  authority,  under  this  charter,  (if 
it  does  exist,)  do  senators  from  that  state  occupy  places 
upon  this  floor  ?  Does  the  charter  authorize  the  state 
to  elect  senators  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ? 
Sir,  does  the  charter  authorize  a  convention  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Rhode  Island  to  incorporate  that  state  into  the 
body  of  the  American  republic  ?  I  presume  not,  sir. 
By  what  authority,  then,  did  they  act,  when  they 
became  a  constituent  part  of  this  Union  ?  Was  it  under 
that  charter,  granted  more  than  a*  century  before  the 
revolution  —  was  it  by  virtue  of  that  charter,  under 
which  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  disfran 
chised,  that  that  state  took  refuge,  like  a  tempest-tost 
vessel,  and  became  safely  moored  in  the  harbor  of  the 
republic  ?  Do  you  bring  the  charter  into  the  federal 
constitution  with  you?  No,  sir;  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island  adopted,  in  solemn  convention 
assembled,  the  federal  constitution  —  the  vital,  elemen 
tary  principle  of  civil  liberty.  It  was  recognized  by  all 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  263 

parties.  Without  this,  the  state  could  not  have  become 
a  member  of  the  Union,  because  the  constitution 
requires  that  this  shall  be  done.  This  was  not  the  work 
of  a  party ;  it  was  effected  by  the  fathers  of  the  revo 
lution,  who  laid  down  the  fundamental  law  of  civil 
liberty  - —  men  whose  veins  were  drained  of  their  life- 
blood  in  procuring  that  independence  and  the  enjoyment 
of  that  civil  liberty  for  their  descendants.  What  did 
that  convention  do  ?  They  declared  "  that  there  are 
certain  natural  rights  of  which  men,  when  they  form  a 
social  compact,  cannot  deprive  or  divest  their  posterity ; 
among  which  are  the  enjoyment  of  life  and  liberty,  with 
the  means  of  acquiring,  possessing,  and  protecting 
property,  and  pursuing  and  obtaining  happiness  and 
safety  ; "  "  that  all  power  is  naturally  vested  in,  and 
consequently  derived  from,  the  people  ;  that  magistrates, 
therefore,  are  their  trustees  and  agents,  and  at  all  times 
amenable  to  them  ;  "  "  that  the  powers  of  government 
may  be  reassumed  by  the  people,  whensoever  it  shall 
become  necessary  to  their  happiness." 

Never  was  there  a  declaration  stronger  or  more"  com 
prehensive  than  this,  made  by  the  sovereign  people  of 
the  State  df  Khode  Island.  Well,  sir,  what  have  they 
subsequently  done  ?  Why,  as  soon  as  they  got  snugly 
established  as  a  part  of  the  Union,  the  Governor  and 
Company  of  the  province  effected  the  resumption  of  the 
sovereignty,  because  there  was  not  popular  power 
enough  around  them  to  resist  They  resumed  the  sov 
ereignty,  meting  out  to  the  people  as  much  right  and 
as  much  wrong  as  those  sovereign  legislators  thought 
proper  to  mete  out.  Instead  of  having  their  own  duties 
prescribed  to  them,  they  assumed  the  right  to  prescribe 
to  the  people  —  their  lords  and  masters  —  how  much 
liberty  they  should  enjoy.  Sir,  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  it  seems,  is  now  called  upon  to  sustain 
this  charter  of  a  British  monarch.  John  Tyler  is  called 
on  to  act  as  Charles  II.  of  England  would  have  done  in 


264  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES    OF 

enforcing  this  charter  —  by  force  of  arms.  "Who  ever 
before  heard  of  an  appeal  to  an  American  president  to 
support  British  authority  ?  And  I  say  again,  if  he  has 
the  right  to  call  in  the  aid  of  an  armed  force  to  sustain 
that  authority,  the  independence  of  this  country  does 
not  exist.  Such  a  proceeding  might  be  tolerated  in 
Canada ;  but,  in  relation  to  one  of  the  states  of  this 
Union,  the  supposition  is  as  ridiculous  as  it  is  odious. 
The  president  declares  that  he  feels  himself  bound,  and 
that  it  is  his  duty,  to  employ  an  armed  force,  if  it 
becomes  necessary,  in  order  to  enforce  obedience  to  this 
usurpation,  which  has  been  for  half  a  century  in  exist 
ence  in  Rhode  Island  ;  he  will  march  an  armed  force  of 
American  citizens  into  that  state,  in  martial  array,  to 
shoot  down  the  people,  in  order  to  sustain  that  charter, 
which  it  was  the  main  object  of  the  revolution  to 
destroy.  Let  him  try  it !  let  him  try  it !  The  presi 
dent  is  a  man,  and  but  a  man ;  he  is  an  officer  of  the 
government,  and  but  an  officer. 

The  power  which  constitutes  the  president  rests 
neither  with  this  body  nor  its  friends  ;  it  possesses  a 
moral  force  which  is  superior  to  either.  Let  the  presi 
dent  undertake  to  march  an  army  into  Rhode  Island,  to 
put  down  the  liberties  of  the  people  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  and  he  will  have  done  a  deed  of  which  his 
posterity  will  be  ashamed  —  of  which  the  nation  will  be 
ashamed.  But,  though  he  threatens  to  do  it,  and  stands 
officially  pledged  to  do  it,  I  tell  him  (as  I  have  told  him 
face  to  face)  that  the  American  people  will  not  permit 
him  to  do  it.  Here  is  what  will  test  the  question, 
[holding  up  a  placard.]  This  I  look  upon  as  the  first 
flash  of  indignation  from  the  enraged  brow  of  an  angry 
people ;  and  I  warn  the  president  to  take  notice  of  the 
lightning's  flash,  as  being  the  forerunner  of  a  storm  that 
will  cover  him  with  deep  disgrace. 

Yes,  sir,  this  is  a  government  of  principle,  sustained 
by  the  sense  of  the  people ;  and  the  man  who  rashly 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  265 

undertakes  to  put  down  popular  liberty  in  this  country 
will  meet  with  signal  discomfiture.  In  connection  with 
my  honorable  colleague,  I  have  the  honor  of  represent 
ing  one  of  the  great  and  glorious  states  of  this  Union ; 
and,  sir,  I  can  assure  you  that  I  speak  the  feelings  of 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  acting  only  under  the 
promptings  of  a  bold  and  heroic  magnanimity,  when  I 
say  that  they  would  be  roused  —  that  they  would  rally 
as  one  man  in  defence  of  our  glorious  liberties,  whether 
invaded  by  foreign  or  domestic  foes. 

I  now  offer  a  resolution,  which  wjll  test  the  sense  of 
this  body  upon  the  vitality  of  our  whole  system.  I 
have  introduced  into  it  nothing  but  what  has  been 
prompted  by  a  neural  impulse  of  patriotism  —  nothing 
but  will  be  responded  to  by  the  whole  body  of  my 
countrymen.  Had  the  Senate  acted  upon  the  resolution 
when  it  was  first  offered,  the  president  would  have 
retracted ;  he  would  not  now  have  stood  pledged ;  the 
government  of  the  people  would  have  gone  on ;  the 
rights  of  all  would  have  been  protected  by  the  votes 
of  all. 


266  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    XVII.      ;; 

PROPOSITIONS  FOR  THE  RELEASE  OF  MR.  DORR  ON  CON 
DITION  THAT  HE  WILL  ENGAGE  TO  SUPPORT  TITE 
EXISTING  CONSTITUTION.  HE  REFUSES,  AND  IS  AFTER 
WARDS  SET  AT  LIBERTY  BY  AN  ACT  OF  GENERAL  AM 
NESTY.  REJOICINGS  AND  CONGRATULATIONS,  ETC. 

THE  leaders  of  the  "  law  and  order  "  party  in  Rhode 
Island  have  made  repeated  efforts  to  justify  themselves 
in  view  of  the  people  of  the  sister  states,  and  various 
printed  documents  have  been  extensively  circulated  for 
that  purpose  ;  and  it  is  obvious  that  many  of  the  errors 
and  mistakes  that  are  found  abroad  with  regard  to  this 
matter"  have  arisen  from  such  sources.  It  has  been  said 
that  Mr.  Dorr  would  not  have  been  sent  to  the  state 
prison  even,  after  sentence  if  he  had  consented  to  take 
an  oath.  The  circumstances  upon  which  that  report  is 
founded  are  simply  these  :  During  the  trial  and  con 
viction  of  Mr.  Dorr,  disinterested  men  of  all  parties,  at 
home  and  abroad,  regarded  the  proceedings  as  extremely 
unjust;  and  before  he  was  removed  to  the  state  prison, 
his  persecutors  heard  with  concern  the  loud  murmurs 
which  arose  against  them  from  all  quarters.  They 
wished  to  screen  themselves  from  the  threatening  indig 
nation,  and  therefore  devised  the  following  scheme  : 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  267 

Mr.  Dorr's  father  was  induced  to  petition  the  legisla 
ture  for  the  liberation  of  his  son,  and  a  delegation  of 
the  "  law  and  order  "  party  visited  Governor  Dorr  while 
he  remained  in  prison  at  Newport,  informed  him  of  the 
said  petition,  and  offered  to  advocate  its  passage  on  con 
dition  that  he  would  engage  to  take  an  oath  to  support 
the  existing  constitution  of  that  state.  This  overture 
was  promptly  rejected,  and  Mr.  Dorr  gave  the  gentle 
men  to  understand  that  he  would  never  take  an  oath 
to  support  a  government  which  owed  its  existence  to 
the  .power  of  the  bayonet ;  he  would  not  sacrifice  his 
principles  or  his  honor  to  save  himself  from  a  dungeon 
or  a  gibbet,  and  he  desired  no  favors  from  a  govern 
ment  the  validity  of  which  he  did  not  acknowledge. 
The  legislature  being  in  session  at  the  same  time,  a 
member  of  the  Senate  visited  Mr.  Dorr  in  prison  in 
order  to  ascertain  his  determination  with  regard  to  the 
proposed  overture.  During  that  interview  Mr.  Dorr 
disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  any  such  petition  on  his 
part,  and  requested  the  honorable  senator,  in  his  name, 
"  to  protest  against  any  action  by  the  General  Assembly 
upon  said  petition."  That  petition  was,  however,  pre 
sented,  but  not  acted  upon.  "Whether  those  individuals 
who  thus  endeavored  to  operate  upon  Mr.  Dorr  could 
or  could  not  have  induced  the  General  Assembly  to  pass 
the  act  which  they  proposed,  it  is  impossible  to  say ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  no  action  was  taken  upon  the  sub 
ject  at  that  time,  and  it  is  well  known  that  he  would 
never  have  consented  to  any  such  propositions  if  they 
had  been  made.  The  inconsistency  of  this  manoeuvre 
is  apparent.  An  individual  had  been  proved  guilty,  as 


£68  THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES    OF 

his  enemies  said,  of  the  most  atrocious  and  abominable 
of  all  crimes,  which  implied  a  total  moral  depravity ; 
and  now  they  offer  to  set  him  at  liberty  if  he  will 
engage  to  support  their  cause.  It  was  not  the  prisoner 
that  these  officious  "  law  and  order  "  men  sought  to 
relieve,  but  themselves  and  their  own  party.  Public 
opinion  had  found  them  guilty  of  a  great  wrong,  and 
they  hoped  to  escape  its  impending  sentence  by  casting 
away  their  victim. 

At  the  January  session  of  the  General  Assembly, 
1845,  the  subject  was  brought  up  again  without  the 
knowledge  or  consent  of  Mr.  Dorr,  and  the  following 
act  passed. 

Thomas  W.  Dorr  liberated  on  Condition  of  his  talc 
ing  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  the  State.  January, 
1845. 

Upon  the  petition  of  Sullivan  Dorr  and  Lydia  Dorr, 
his  wife,  praying  for  an  act  of  amnesty,  — 

Voted  and  resolved,  That  the  prayer  thereof  be  so  far 
granted  as  that  Thomas  W.  Dorr  be  liberated  from  his 
confinement  in  the  state  prison,  upon  his  taking  the  fol 
lowing  oath  or  affirmation  :  — 

"  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  bear  true 
faith  and  allegiance  to  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations  ,•  and  that  I  will  support  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  this  state  and  of  the  United 
States.  So  help  me  God.  (Or,  this  affirmation  I  make 
and  give  upon  the  peril  of  the  penalty  of  perjury.)  " 

Said  oath  or  affirmation  shall  be  administered  by  the 
clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  sitting  in  any  county  in 
the  state,  or  by  one  of  the  justices  thereof  in  vacation, 
and  be  recorded  upon  the  records  of  said  court  in  the 
county  in  which  the  same  is  taken ;  and  the  warden  of 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORR.  269 

the  state  prison  is  hereby  directed  to  furnish  said  Dorr 
with  a  copy  of  this  resolution,  and  whenever  he  shall 
signify  his  desire  to  take  said  oath  or  affirmation,  to 
attend  said  Dorr  before  said  court  or  justice  ;  and  upon 
his  taking  said  oath  or  affirmation,  to  discharge  him 
accordingly. 

.This  act  plainly  showed  that  the  same  rancorous 
spirit  with  which  Mr.  Dorr  had  been  persecuted  still 
existed  in  all  its  bitterness  j  and  it  also  showed  that  his 
enemies  were  desirous  to  compromise  with  public  opin 
ion,  and  purchase  a  pardon  for  themselves  by  pretending 
to  grant  one  to  Mr.  Dorr. 

Every  member  of  that  legislature  well  knew  that  Mr. 
Dorr  had  once  solemnly  sworn  to  support  the  people's 
constitution ;  and  now  that  body  offered  to  release  him  if 
he  would  violate  that  oath.  Now,  when  the  government 
had  deprived  him  of  all  his  civil  and  political  rights,  and 
taken  away  his  oath,  as  if  in  mockery,  they  call  upon 
him  to  go  before  the  same  haughty  and  arbitrary  tribunal 
which  had,  as  he  knew,  unjustly  doomed  him  to  a  fel 
on's  cell,  and  there  swear  allegiance  to  a  government 
which  had  been  established  by  force,  in  violation  of  the 
inherent  and  constitutional  rights  of  the  people  at  large. 
His  enemies  well  knew  that  a  compliance  with  that  act 
would  mar  his  spotless  reputation,  and  clothe  him  with 
perpetual1  shame.  With  this  mark  upon  their  victim, 
he  might  go  abroad  to  be  despised  and  spurned  by  all 
men.  His  oath  could  never  again  be  taken.  By  law 
he  had  already  been  deprived  of  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  a  citizen,  or  even  a  human  being,  and 
•23* 


£70  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

nothing  but  a  compliance  with  this  act  seemed  necessary 
to  complete  his  destruction.  But  those  who  composed 
that  legislature  were  mistaken  in  their  man.  From  a 
lofty  moral  eminence  he  looked  down  upon  them  with 
contempt.  His  conduct  was  governed  by  a  high  moral 
sense  unknown  to  his  enemies.  He  would  not  barter 
his  conscience  for  his  freedom  or  his  life.  He  spurned 
the  graceless  overture,  and,  like  Cato  of  old,  gave  his 
persecutors  to  understand  that  he  disdained  any  boon 
which  they  had  power  to  offer. 

Every  where  abroad  the  people  applauded  the  heroic 
firmness  of  Mr.  Dorr,  and  condemned  the  shameful 
tyranny  of  his  persecutors.  It  was  evident  that  a 
storm  was  gathering  —  dark  rolling  clouds  charged  with 
indignant  thunders  appeared  in  the  horizon  and  seemed 
to  threaten  with  destruction  the  Ehode  Island  bastile. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  was  thought  prudent  to 
liberate  their  victim,  and,  therefore,  the  General  As 
sembly,  on  the  £6th  day  of  June,  1845,  passed  the  fol 
lowing  act :  — 

An  Act  to  pardon  certain  Offences  against  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  State,  and  to  quiet  the  Minds  of  the  good 
Citizens  thereof. 

SECTION  1.  No  person  shall  be  hereafter  prosecuted 
for  any  crime  or  offence  which  may  have  been  com 
mitted  against  this  state,  and  enumerated  in  the  act 
entitled  "  An  act  in  relation  to  offences  against  the  sov 
ereign  power  of  the  state,"  passed  April  £,  1842  ;  and 
every  person  who  is  under  recognizance,  indictment,  or 
sentence  for  or  on  account  of  any  such  offence,  shall 
be  and  is  hereby  discharged  from  such  recognizance, 


THOMAS  WILSON    DORR,  £71 

indictment  or  sentence,  and  from  all  the  civil  and  penal 
consequences  thereof. 

SEC.  3.  Any  person  who  has  been  convicted  of  the 
crime  of  treason  against  this  state,  and  is  now  in  prison 
under  the  sentence  of  the  law  provided  for  such  offence, 
shall  be  forthwith  discharged  from  such  imprisonment, 
and  the  keeper  or  warden  of  the  prison  where  any  such 
person  may  be,  shall  discharge  such  person  from  such 
imprisonment  upon  the  production  to  him  of  a  copy  of 
this  act  certified  by  the  secretary  of  state.  (Passed 
June  26,  1845.) 

The  language  of  this  act,  together  with  the  circum 
stances  under  which  it  passed,  seems  to  deserve  a  pass 
ing  notice.  Who  "  had  been  convicted  of  the  crime  of 
treason  against  that  state,  and  was  in  prison  under 
sentence  "  ?  No  one,  as  the  legislature  well  knew,  but 
Thomas  Wilson  Dorr ;  yet  his  name  is  cautiously  with 
held  from  the  act,  and  the  general  reader  might  be  led 
to  suppose  that  it  was  an  act  of  general  amnesty  de 
signed  to  set  at  liberty  many  persons,  without  any  par 
ticular  reference  to  him.  Now,  when  not  only  the  slow 
unmoving  finger  of  scorn,  but  the  strong  arm  of 
power,  was  seen  pointing  towards  Rhode  Island,  and  it 
had  become  obvious  that  if  his  persecutors  did  not  soon 
unloose  his  chains,  they  would  be  stricken  off,  — as  if  to 
deny  their  own  fears  and  hide  as  much  as  possible  their 
own  shame,  they  release  their  victim  under  the  disguise 
of  an  act  of  general  amnesty. 

Under  this  act,  on  the  £7th  of  June,  Mr.  Dorr  was 
discharged.  It  will  be  recollected  that  it  was  on  the 
£7th  of  June,  1842,  that  he  dismissed  his  forces  at 
Chepatchet,  and  on  the  £7th  of  June,  1844,  he  was 


272  THE   LIFE  AXD  11MJSS  OF 

committed  to  the  state  prison  in  Providence,  and  at 
length,  on  the  £7th  of  June,  1845,  he  was  discharged 
from  prison.  As  soon  as  he  was  restored  again  to  light 
and  life,  he  was  met  with  the  joyful  greetings  of  thou 
sands,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  the  following  testimo 
nials  show, 

GOVERNOR  DORR.  —  We  learn  that  the  parents  of 
Governor  Dorr,  on  Thursday  last,  availed  themselves  of 
a  permission  to  visit  their  son  in  prison,  and  that  they 
found  him  in  a  very  bad  state  of  health. 

We  have  also  learned  from  other  sources,  that  the 
maladies  with  which  Governor  Dorr  has  been  afflicted, 
since  his  imprisonment,  have  been  increased  of  late, 
and  little  or  no  hope  can  be  entertained  of  his  long  con 
tinuance  in  life,  unless  he  shall  be  speedily  relieved 
from  prison.  —  Republican  Herald,  Providence,  May 

24,  1845. 

• 

GOVERNOR  DORR  LIBERATED,  —  We  stop  the  press 
to  announce  the  fact  that  the  bill  before  the  legislature 
for  the  liberation  of  Governor  Dorr,  and  for  a  general 
amnesty,  as  given  in  our  legislative  proceedings,  was 
passed  into  a  law  this  morning.  The  news,  together 
with  an  authenticated  copy  of  the  act,  was  brought  to 
this  city,  yesterday,  at  half  past  two  o'clock,  and  was 
immediately  carried  over  to  the  prison  by  Walter  S, 
Burges,  who  took  with  him  a  carriage  to  receive  Gov 
ernor  Dorr  and  convey  him  from  the  loathsome  scene  of 
his  wrongs  and  sufferings,  who  is  now,  at  three  and  a 
half  o'clock,  making  preparations  to  quit  the  prison. 
Hundreds  of  citizens  are  crowding  the  prison  door,  and 
hundreds  more  in  carriages,  on  horseback,  and  on  foot, 
are  thronging  the  roads  leading  to  that  hated  place,  to 
get  a  glimpse  at  this  victim  of  persecution,  and  once 
more  welcome  him  on  his  restoration  to  his  friends,  the 
people,  and  to  the  world. 


THOMAS   WILSON   DORK. 


He  comes  forth.,  not  restored  to  his  civil  rights,  but 
he  comes  to  receive  a  joyful  welcome,  and  the  deepest 
sympathy  and  the  warmest  reception  from  a  people  who 
highly  appreciate  his  public  services  and  noble  sacrifice 
in  their  behalf.  The  citizens  are  animated  by  a  warm 
and  generous  enthusiasm  by,  this  event,  but  the  most 
commendable  tranquillity  prevails  in  the  city. 

The  loud  booming  of  the  cannon  from  Smith's  and 
Federal  Hills,  and  the  waving  of  the  flags  from  the 
hickory  poles  and  flag-staffs,  give  unequivocal  token  of 
the  general  and  undisguised  joy  which  pervades  all 
ranks  and  sexes  in  the  city. 

Governor  Dorr  is  now  restored  to  his  liberty,  and 
the  people  are  rejoicing  with  exceeding  great  joy.  —  • 
Republican  Herald,  June  28,  1845. 

THE  FLAME  is  SPREADING.  —  One  hundred  guns 
were  fired  at  Cambridgeport,  on  Monday  noon,  in  token 
of  joy  at  the  liberation  of  Governor  Dorr  ;  flags  were 
waving  through  the  day,  and  rockets  let  off  at  night 
We  have  not  room  to  copy  the  account  of  the  affair 
given  in  the  Boston  Times.  Strong  manifestations  of 
joy  have  been  made  in  other  places,  the  particulars  of 
which  we  shall  give  as  soon  as  we  are  able.  The  train 
has  been  laid,  and  the  match  applied,  and  as  the  news 
travels  onward,  these  outbursts  of  enthusiasm  will  be 
heard  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  our  land,  till  the  whole 
line  pours  forth  one  grand  feu  de  joie.  —  Republican 
Herald,  July  2,  1845. 

THOMAS  W.  DORR.  —  As  for  Governor  Dorr,  his 
reputation  is  safe  with  the  people,  and  he  will  live  to  see 
the  people  triumphant,  and  their  enemies  overthrown. 
He  but  acted  his  part  as  the  legal  governor  of  Khode 
Island,  and  took  constitutional  measures  only  to  sup 
port  the  government  of  the  people.  If  he  failed  in  the 
main,  relying  too  much  upon  the  hearty  support  of 
those  who  had  pledged  themselves  to  do  their  duty, 


£74  THE    LIFE   AND   TIMES   OP 

and  if  they  proved  recreant  in  the  hour  of  trial,  the 
people  will  see  that  he  has  stood  fast  by  the  principle  of 
popular  sovereignty,  and  will  cherish  his  memory  ac 
cordingly. 

They  know  he  has  sacrificed  the  applause  of  many 
of  his  fellow-associates  and  townsmen,  his  early  posi 
tion  in  Rhode  Island,  and  the  smiles  of  fortune.  In 
fine,  he  has  sacrificed  all  but  his  honor  —  and  the 
country  will  see  that  his  reputation  is  cared  for,  and  his 
course  vindicated.  —  Boston  Times. 

RESOLUTION  OF  THE  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  LEGISLATURE. 

—  The  committee  of  the  New  Hampshire  legislature, 
to  which  was  referred  the  governor's   message  on   the 
late  undignified  answer  returned  by  our  legislature  to 
the   communication  from  that  executive,  reported  the 
following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  by  that  legisla 
ture  :  — 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives  in  General  Court  convened,  That  the  statements 
contained  in  the  preamble  and  resolutions  of  the  legis 
lature  of  this  state  at  its  session  in  1844,  relating  to  the 
unjust  and  tyrannical  treatment  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr 
by  the  authorities  of  Rhode  Island  are  true ;  that  they 
are  fully  sustained  by  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  by 
the  records  of  the  court  before  whom  he  was  tried  ;  and 
that  the  Assembly  of  Rhode  Island  never  can,  by  reso 
lutions  denunciatory  of  this  or  any  other  legislature, 
wipe  out  from  the  page  of  history  the  deep  stain  which 
must  ever  attach  itself  to  that  state,  until  full  and  com 
plete  justice  be  done  to  that  much  injured  individual. 

—  Republican  Herald,  July  4,  1845. 

GOVERNOR  DORR.  —  The  friends  of  human  rights 
must  receive  the  announcement  of  Governor  Dorr's 
release  with  unbounded  joy ;  they  must  hail  it  as  an 
earnest  of  the  onward  march  of  the  spirit  of  Liberty, 


THOMAS  WILSON   DORR. 


and  they  must  continue  to  animate  and  encourage  their 
Rhode  Island  friends  to  the  achievement  of  a  still 
greater  victory.  Let  the  fiat  go  forth,  —  Governor 
Dorr's  rights  must  be  restored,  —  and  the  result  will 
not  disappoint  the  lovers  of  liberty  and  right.  Up, 
then,  freemen  !  Sleep  not,  while  a  worthy  and  distin 
guished  citizen  is  denied  the  privileges  guaranteed  to 
every  man  by  the  great  Magna  Charta  of  our  liberties. 
Governor  Dorr  will  be  restored  —  -  and  by  an  Algerine 
legislature,  too.  It  were  too  much  for  these  narrow- 
hearted  and  selfish  men  to  give  him  his  liberty  and  his 
rights  together  ;  yet,  we  repeat,  the  same  power  which 
opened  his  prison  doors  a  few  days  ago,  will  at  another 
time  restore  him  to  his  civil  rights.  Agitate,  agitate  — 
and  all  will  be  wall.  The  stern  sentiment  of  the  de 
mocracy  must  be  respected.  —  Wayne  County  (  Ohio) 
Standard. 

A  Visit  to  Governor  Dorr. 

PAWTUCKET,  July  29,  1845. 

Mr.  Editor  :  Yesterday,  for  the  first  time  since  the 
doors  of  the  Rhode  Island  bastile  grated"  upon  their 
hinges,  to  usher  once  more  into  life  and  liberty  the 
patriot  Dorr,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  grasping  that  hand 
which  would  sway  the  sceptre  of  justice  and  mercy  over 
all.  And  if  my  heart  ever  had  cause  to  overflow  with 
gratitude  to  the  Disposer  of  all  events  for  his  goodness, 
it  was  when  I  was  permitted  to  greet  the  noble  martyr 
in  the  home  of  his  childhood,  where  the  loved  scenes  of 
his  youth  had  so  long  mourned  his  absence,  and  where 
for  months,  ay,  years,  his  voice  had  not  echoed  in  the 
halls  of  his  father.  I  found  him  surrounded  with  all 
the  comforts  and  elegances  which  wealth  or  affection 
could  bestow  ;  but,  alas  !  the  richest  treasure,  health, 
was  wanting,  and  his  countenance  and  feeble  step  be 
trayed  disease  and  anguisn  of  body,  while  his  mind  had 
been  preserved  in  all  its  purity  by  a  power  higher  than 


276   "  THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 

that  which  had  so  long  aimed  to  destroy  the  noblest 
Work  of  God.  And  as  I  contemplate  that  lofty  brow 
upon  which  the  eternal  principles  of  truth  and  justice 
were  written,  I  thought  the  man  who  could  wish  or 
inflict  punishment  upon  one  like  Kim  must  have  a 
kindred  spirit  with  the  demons  of  another  world. 

(Signed,)  A.  E.  H. 

THOMAS  W.  DORR.  — •  This  persecuted  patriot  has 
received  invitations  from  the  democratic  republican 
general  committees  of  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Al 
bany,  to  visit  those  cities,  and  unite  with  his  democratic 
friends  te  in  a  public  expression  of  gratitude  to  an  over 
ruling  and  all-wise  Providence,  for  the  recent  triumph 
of  the  principles  of  our  free  institutions  over  brute  force 
and  party  oppression,  and  of  a  just  and  irrepressible 
indignation  in  view  of  the  abuse  of  political  power,  un 
paralleled  in  the  annals  of  civilized  nations."  Unfor 
tunately  the  health  of  Mr.  Dorr  is  so  impaired  by  the 
petty  tyranny  and  vengeful  and  dastardly  cruelty  of  the 
Algerines  of  Rhode  Island,  as  to  prevent  a  compliance 
with  the  invitations  of  his  friends  ;  but  we  hope  that, 
once  more  enjoying  liberty,  and  permitted  to  breathe 
the  free  air  of  heaven,  he  will  soon  be  able  to  leave  the 
polluted  atmosphere  of  Rhode  Island,  and  unite  with  his 
friends  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  unrestrained  friendship 
of  American  democracy  and  the  congratulations  of 
freemen.  —  Hudson  Gazette. 

GOVERNOR  DORR'S  LIBERATION.  —  Every  real  friend 
of  liberty  must  rejoice,  and  every  real  friend  of  liberty 
does  rejoice,  in  the  liberation  of  Governor  Dorr  from 
the  prison  in  which  he  has  been  confined  by  the  con 
temptible  vindictiveness  of  the  party  which  has  ever 
been  hostile  to  human  rights.  He  is  now  that  for 
which  he  ventured  all  to  render  his  oppressed  fellow- 
citizens,  a  freeman ;  and  if  we  may  infer  the  future  from 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  277 

the  popular  enthusiasm  which  greeted  his  restoration  to 
liberty,  he  will  receive,  as  an  appendage  to  his  freedom, 
the  highest  honors  which  a  grateful  and  intellectual 
people  can  bestow.  The  work  of  reformation,  which 
began  with,  the  election  of  Governor  Jackson,  has  been 
well  sustained  by  the  liberation  of  Governor  Dorr,  and 
will,  we  trust,  be  worthily  prosecuted  by  the  election  of 
Governor  Dorr  to  the  executive  chair.  —  Philadelphia 
Ledger,  (neutral.) 

Celebration  at  Philadelphia,   July  4th,  1845,   by   the 
Young  Men's  Democratic  Association. 

Governor  Dorr  —  A  brave  man  ;  a  patriot  of  the 
revolutionary  stampj  Neither  the  threat  of  protracted 
imprisonment,  nor  the  promise  of  liberation,  could  in 
duce  him  to  abandon  the  requisition  of  honor,  or  his 
determined  adherence  to  equal  rights.  (Nine  cheers.) 

(Among  the  volunteer  toasts  were  the  following  :  — 
By  E.  W.  C.  Greene  :  — 

The  liberation  of  Thomas  W.  Dorr  — We  hail  it 
as  another  evidence  of  the  prevalence  of  democratic  sen 
timents.  (Nine  cheers.) 

By  the  committee  :  — 

Thomas  W.  Dorr  —  A  martyr  to  the  great  and 
incontrovertible  principles  so  ably  set  forth  in  his  senti 
ment,  so  nobly  contended  for  in  his  actions,  and  for 
which  he  has,  like  an  indomitable  patriot,  so  long  and 
magnanimously  suffered.  We  rejoice  that  this  day,  so 
dear  to  Americans  and  democrats,  is  not  still  desecrated 
by  the  incarceration  of  one  of -the  most  devoted  cham 
pions  of  the  rights  and  supremacy  of  the  people. 
(Nine  cheers.) 

The  following  is  the  letter  of  Governor  Dorr,  in  reply 
to  an  invitation  to  attend  the  celebration  :  — 
24 


£78  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

PROVIDENCE,  July  2,  1845. 

Gentlemen :  It  has  been  wholly  out  of  my  power, 
until  the  present  moment,  to  acknowledge  your  friendly 
and  gratifying  letter  of  June  12,  which  conveys  an 
invitation  to  take  part  in  celebrating  the  anniversary  of 
our  national  independence.  It  would  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  join  you  on  this  occasion  in  renewing  our 
accustomed  tribute  to  the  principles,  the  acts,  and  the 
men  of  the  American  revolution,  and,  in  so  doing,  to 
strengthen  our  allegiance  to  the  great  cause  of  freedom, 
which  has  been  bequeathed  to  the  patriotism  and  vigi 
lance  of  each  succeeding  generation.  But,  for  reasons 
which  you  will  duly  appreciate,  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  for  a  social  interview, 
and  must  propose  the  accompanying  sentiment  as  a  sub 
stitute  for  my  personal  attendance. 

With  the  best  wish  for  your  success  in  advancing 
the  objects  of  the  association,  I  am  very  truly  and  re 
spectfully  your  friend  and  fellow -citizen. 

(Signed,)  THOMAS  W.  DORR. 

To  Messrs.  J.  N.  Cardozo,  J.  A.  Stevens,  and  others, 
committee. 

The  Declaration  of  American  Independence  —  Al 
ways  true,  and  not  merely  designed  for  once  to  set  forth 
a  rhetorical  enumeration  of  abstract,  barren  "  belliger 
ent  "  rights.  The  absolute  supremacy  of  the  people  over 
their  political  institutions,  is  the  primary  vital  doctrine  of 
our  democratic  republic.  It  was  sealed  with  the  blood 
of  the  revolution.  It  was  trampled  upon  in  this  state 
in  1842.  It  was  avenged  in  the  election  of  the  present 
chief  magistrate  of  the  Union.  It  carries  terror  in  its 
front  only  to  tyrants.  When  it  shall  be  obscured  and 
lost,  the  people  of  this  country  will  cease  both  to  enjoy 
and  to  deserve  the  rights  and  blessings  of  a  free  gov 
ernment.  (Thirteen  cheers.) 

THOMAS  W.  DORR.  —  Shouts  of  the  democracy  are 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  279 

heard  in  every  portion  of  our  land  ;  and  for  what  ? 
The  friend  of  liberty,  Thomas  W.  Dorr,  is  again  free 
from  the  enclosure  of  the  prison  walls. 

The  good  men  of  the  revolution  opposed  the  British 
charters  of  their  own  states. 

Thomas  W.  Dorr  opposed  a  like  charter  of  his  own 
state.  Many  of  the  former  were  imprisoned  by  the 
British  ;  the  latter  was  also  imprisoned  by  the  lovers  of 
British  institutions. 

The  names  of  the  men  of  the  revolution  are  em 
balmed  in  glory.  So  will  be  the  name  of  Governor 
Dorr.  His  grievous  Vrongs  will  be  remembered  ;  his 
sufferings  can  never  be  forgotten.  Honest  in  principle 
and  firm  in  purpose,  he  scorned  the  humiliating  propo 
sition  of  his  persecutors,  and  chose  a  prisoner's  life 
rather  than  a  dishonorable  surrender  of  principle.  The 
people  admired  his  integrity,  and  came  to  his  rescue. 
The  spell  of  tyranny  in  Rhode  Island  is  broken.  Its 
remnants  may  be  felt  for  a  season,  but  they  are  crum 
bling,  while  the  tree  of  liberty  is  growing  freshly.  The 
strength  of  the  tyrants,  in  death  throes,  was  spent  upon 
Dorr.  A  stouter  heart  and  firmer  patriot  could  not 
have  been  selected  among  the  sons  of  liberty.  Most 
nobly  has  he  sustained  his  cause,  keenly  has  he  suf 
fered,  and  more  proud  is  his  triumph.  He  suffered  for 
principles  near  and  dear  to  the  people  of  this  land  ;  but 
not  for  himself.  A  base  surrender  of  those  principles, 
on  his  part,  would  have  saved  him  the  pangs  of  a 
prison  cell.  But  he  was  not  the  man  to  make  the  sur 
render,  and  happily  in  his  case  is  the  admirable  saying 
of  Bryant  verified  — f(  Truth,  crushed  to  earth,  shall  rise 
again." 

The  people  will  do  justice  to  the  man  and  his  prin 
ciples.  While  those  who  have  attempted  to  blacken 
his  character  and  crush  him  are  sinking  into  disgrace, 
Thomas  W.  Dorr  will  rise  to  distinction.  The  glad 
shouts  of  freemen,  at  his  release  are  welcome  to  every 
son  of  liberty.  —  Hartford  Times. 


£80  THE    LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

AN  ACT  OF  THE  RHODE  ISLAND  LEGISLATURE  TO  RE 
VERSE  AND  ANNUL  THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  SUPREME 
COURT  AGAINST  MR.  DORR. 

IT  may  be  presumed  that  the  court  which  pronounced 
sentence  upon  Mr.  Dorr  seriously  expected  he  would 
suffer  its  unmitigated  rigor,  and  dole  out  the  remainder 
of  his  life  in  that  horrible  sarcophagus  to  which  that 
decree  consigned  him,  and  that  the  records  of  their 
own  supreme  tribunal  would  stand  unimpeached  and 
undisturbed  to  testify  against  him  forever.  A  few  fleet 
ing  years  passed,  and  a  mighty  change  came  over  their 
mad  vision.  Public  opinion  not  only  set  their  victim 
at  liberty,  but  justified  and  applauded  his  conduct,  and, 
finally,  expunged  the  foul  stain  which  his  enemies  had 
cast  upon  his  name,  and  converted  the  records  of  that 
court  into  perpetual  testimony  against  itself,  as  the  fol 
lowing  preamble  and  enactment  of  the  Rhode  Island 
legislature  show. 

An  Act  to  reverse  and  annul  the  Judgment  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Rhode  Island  for  Treason,  ren 
dered  against  Thomas  W.  Dorr,  June  25,  A.  D. 
1844. 

Whereas  the  General  Assembly  of  this  state  hath 
from  time  to  time  exercised  the  powers  conferred  upon 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  281 

it  by  line  charter  of  King  Charles  the  Second,  "to 
alter,  reverse,  annul,  or  pardon,  under  their  common 
seal  or  otherwise,  such  fines,  mulcts,  imprisonments, 
sentences,  judgments,  and  condemnations  as  shall  be 
thought  fit :  " 

And  whereas  the  same  powers  were  continued  to 
the  General  Assembly  under  the  existing  constitution 
pf  this  state  by  the  terms  thereof,  which  provide  ts  that 
the  General  Assembly  shall  continue  to  exercise  the 
powers  they  have  heretofore  exercised,  unless  prohib 
ited  by  this  constitution  :  "  and  by  the  provision  that 
"  the  Supreme  Court  established  by  this  constitution 
shall  have  the  same  jurisdiction  as  the  Supreme  Judi 
cial  Court  "  theretofore  existing  : 

And  whereas  an  alleged  political  offence,  for  which 
a  judgment  hath  been  rendered  in  favor  of  the  state, 
may  in  certain  cases  furnish  a  proper  occasion  for  the 
exercise  of  such  high  powers : 

And  whereas  upon  the  trial  of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr 
for  the  alleged  crime  of  treason,  there  was  an  improper 
and  illegal  return  of  jurors  in  this,  that  one  hundred 
and  seven  jurors  from  one  political  party  were  design 
edly  selected  by  the  sheriff,  in  part  with  the  aid  and 
assistance  of  persons  acting  in  behalf  of  the  state,  and 
only  one  juror  from  the  other  political  party,  and  the 
accused  was  tried  in  a  county  other  than  that  in  which 
the  alleged  offence  was  committed  and  in  which  he 
resided,  and  he  was  allowed  but  two  days  with  any,  and 
but  a  few  hours  with  some  of  the  panel  of  jurors  in 
which  to  inquire  as  to  their  disqualifications  or  obtain 
proof  thereof,  and  was  not  allowed,  after  the  peremp 
tory  challenge  of  several  such  jurors,  and  after  obtain 
ing  proof  of  such  disqualifications,  to  withdraw  said 
peremptory  challenges,  and  to  challenge  said  jurors  for 
cause,  or  to  have  a  new  trial  in  consequence  thereof : 

And  whereas  the  court  denied  the  jury  the  right 
to  pass  upon  questions  of  law,  though  said  court  had 


THE   LIFE   AND   TIMES   OF 


previously,  in  accordance  with  the  common  law,  held 
that  the  jury  might  in  criminal  cases  "  take  upon  them 
selves  the  responsibility  of  deciding  questions  of  law  ; 5> 
and  the  accused  was  not  allowed  to  show  in  justifica 
tion  or  in  explanation  of  his  motives  or  intent,  that  he 
acted  under  a  constitution  which  had  been  adopted  by 
a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  the  state,  and  an  elec 
tion  under  the  same  as  governor  of  the  state,  and  in 
accordance  with  what  he  deemed  to  be  his  right  and 
duty  in  consequence  thereof  : 

And  whereas  the  said  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr  was 
thereby  wrongfully  convicted  : 

And  whereas-  it  is  desirable  for  the  best  interests  of 
this  state  that  the  wrongs  thereby  inflicted  upon  said 
Dorr,  and  upon  the  people  of  the  state,,  should  be  re 
dressed,  and  that  the  animosities  created  by  the  civil 
commotions  which  preceded  and  accompanied  said  trial 
should  cease  and  determine  : 

And  whereas  it  has  been  the  custom  of  our  English 
forefathers,  (but  for  which  there  hath  been  happily  no 
occasion  heretofore  in  the  history  of  this  country,) 
whenever  judgments  for  treason  have -been  thus  ille 
gally  and  wrongfully  obtained,  to  reverse  by  act  of 
Parliament  such  judgments,  and  to  direct,  to  the  end 
that  justice  be  done  to  those  who  have  been  thus  con 
victed,  that  the  records  thereof  be  cancelled  or  de 
stroyed  : 

It  is  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows :  — 

SECTION  1.  The  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
whereby  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  of  Providence,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  June,  A.  D.  1&44,  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  life,  at  hard  labor,  in  separate  con 
finement,  is  hereby  repealed,  reversed,  annulled,  and 
declared  in  all  respects  to  be  as  if  it  had  never  been 
rendered. 

SEC.  £.   To  the  end  that  right  be  done  to  the  said 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  283 

Thomas  Wilson  Dorr,  the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court 
for  the  county  of  Newport  is  hereby  directed  to  write 
across  the  face  of  the  record  of  said  judgment  the 
words,  "  Reversed  and  annulled  by  order  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly,  at  their  January  session,  A.  D.  1854." 

SEC,  3.  The  secretary  of  state  is  hereby  directed 
to  transmit  a  copy  of  this  act  to  each  of  the  governors 
of  the  several  states,  and  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

SEC.  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  its 
passage. 

This  act  passed  at  the  January  session,  1854.  It 
was  evident  at  that  time  that  Mr.  Dorr  was  declining, 
and  could  not  long  survive,  and  it  is  not  supposed  that 
he  regarded  the  measure  with  much  interest.  If  his 
persecutors  were  disposed  to  acknowledge  their  own 
guilt,  he  could  have  no  objection ;  but  for  himself,  he 
humbly  confided  in  a  higher  and  purer  tribunal.  Yet 
he  might  have  looked  upon  this  legislative  act  as  an  in 
dication  of  that  universal  condemnation  which  the  world 
would  pass  upon  his  enemies. 


284-  THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

SKETCH    OF   MR.    DORR'S   LIFE. 

IT  does  not  come  within  our  province  at  this  time  to 
present  the  reader  with  a  complete  biography  of  Mr. 
Dorr,  and,  after  the  history  which  has  already  been 
given  of  that  political  controversy  in  which  he  so 
largely  participated,  every  one  must  have  become  ac 
quainted  with  the  most  prominent  traits  in  his  charac 
ter.  We  have  not  intended  unnecessarily  to  invade 
the  sacred  province  of  his  private  life,  or  to  rush  un 
bidden  into  the  domestic  circle ;  but  we  hold  that  the 
public  character  of  every  man  is  public  property,  and 
liable  at  all  times  to  be  examined  and  judged  of.  Our 
chief  object  in  the  present  case  is  to  place  the  motives 
and  conduct  of  Mr.  Dorr  in  their  true  light  before  the 
public,  and  to  show  that  the  cause  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  and  to  which  he  sacrificed  so  much,  was  a  just 
and  righteous  cause,  and  that,  through  all  his  reverses, 
he  ever  maintained  his  unflinching  fidelity.  We  are 
aware  that  his  memory  needs  no  eulogium  from  us,  and 
that  the  shafts  of  his  enemies  will  finally  crumble  to 
dust  beneath  the  immortal  mound  with  which  time  will 
mark  his  history  ;  yet,  for  the  satisfaction  of  such  of 
our  readers  as  may  be  wholly  unacquainted  with  his 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  285 

private  life,  it  seems  proper  that  we  should  give  a  brief 
sketch  of  his  early  history. 

THOMAS  WILSON  DORR  was  born  in  the  town  of  Prov 
idence  and  State  of  Rhode  Island,  November  5,  1805. 
His  parents  were  among  the  most  wealthy  and  respect 
able  citizens,  and  their  numerous  connections  comprised 
a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  prominent  families 
of  the  place  at  that  time. ,  It  does  not  belong  to  us  to 
give  a  history  of  his  early  life ;  we  will,  therefore,  pass 
it  over  with  a  single  remark.  The  same  nice  sense  of 
right  and  wrong,  and  the  same  scrupulous  regard  for 
truth,  which  marked  the  boyhood  of  George  Washing 
ton,  marked  also  the  early  character  of  Thomas  Wilson 
Dorr;  and  the  history  of  his  life  shows  that  he  main 
tained  that  integrity  with  equal  fidelity.  His  father 
being  wealthy,  no  pains  or  expense  was  spared  in  his 
education.  His  preliminary  studies  were  pursued  at 
Exeter  Academy,  New  Hampshire,  and  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  entered  Harvard  College,  where  he  grad 
uated  with  much  honor  in  1823,  being  the  second  in 
his  class. 

Soon  after  his  graduation  he  commenced  the  study 
of  law,  and  spent  two  years  in  the  city  of  New  York' 
under  the  tuition  of  Chancellor  Kent  and  Vice  Chan 
cellor  M'Coun.  He  afterwards  returned  to  his  native 
city,  and  made  himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
laws  of  his  own  state,  under  the  instruction  of  some 
of  her  ablest  jurists.  It  is  presumed  that  no  young 
man,  either  before  or  since,  ever  came  to  the  bar  in 
Rhode  Island  better  qualified,  or  with  more  flattering 


286  THE    LIFE    AND   TIMES   OF 

prospects.  Irreproachable  in  morals,  urbane  in  his 
manners,  and  mild  and  unassuming  in  all  his  inter 
course,  he  deserved  and  received  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  all  with  whom  he  associated ;  and  it  is  said,  that  in 
his  professional  practice  he  ever  maintained  the  same 
undeviating  integrity  which  marked  the  character  of  his 
whole  life.  As  an  advocate  he  was  not  brilliant ;  yet 
his  arguments  were  clear,  forcible,  and  convincing. 
But  we  cannot  give  a  history  of  his  professional  career, 
because  it  is  with  his  public  life  that  we  are  chiefly  con 
cerned  :  we  wish  to  show  that  Mr.  Dorr  did  not  rashly 
and  ignorantly  rush  into  the  political  arena.  Perhaps 
no  man  in  Rhode  Island  had  a  more  thorough  or  more 
polished  education,  or  better  understood  the  true  prin 
ciples  of  American  jurisprudence.  From  1834  to  1837 
he  represented  the  city  of  Providence  in  the  General 
Assembly,  and  also  at  other  times  held  many  important 
offices  ;  and  if  he  had  been  less  honest  and  more  ambi 
tious,  he  might  easily  have  obtained  the  highest  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people  of  that  state.  His  family  and 
its  aristocratic  connections  placed  him  in  the  highest 
class,  and  posts  of  honor  and  power  seemed  to  beckon 
him  to  their  embrace.  But  when  he  looked  abroad 
among  mankind,  and  surveyed  the  great  inequality  which 
every  where  obtained,  —  when  he  beheld  one  class,  by 
the  mere  accident  of  wealth  or  position,  control  and 
oppress  those  who  were  less  fortunate,  but  not  less 
worthy,  —  a  spirit  of  philanthopy  overcame  all  his  ambi 
tious  aspirations,  and  he  became  devoted  to  the  inter 
ests  of  the  oppressed.  He  saw  a  large  portion  of  the 
citizens  of  his  own  state  actually  outlawed  and  deprived 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORK.  287 

of  all  their  political  rights  by  the  arbitrary  acts  of  un 
authorized  legislation.  He  resolved  to  forego  his  own 
individual  interests,  and  exert  himself  in  behalf  of  his 
disfranchised  fellow-citizens.  He  made  their  cause  his 
cause,  and  determined  to  stand  or  fall  with  it.  We 
have  given  the  reader  the  outlines  of  that  eventful 
struggle  which  followed,  and  have  shown  that  a  large 
portion  of  that  same  oppressed  people,  for  want  of 
courage  and  fidelity,  abandoned  their  own  cause,  and 
became  leagued  with  their  oppressors.  Cowardice  and 
treachery  united  with  the  bayonet  to  crush  the  people 
and  overthrow  their  leaders  ;  but  no  human  power  was 
able  to  subdue  Mr.  Dorr.  He  had  embarked  in  a  right 
eous  cause,  and  no  reverses  could  damp  his  ardor  or 
divert  him  from  his  purpose.  His  enemies  did,  indeed, 
deprive  him  of  his  liberty,  and  consign  him  to  a  felon's 
cell ;  but  in  so  doing  they  exhibited  in  him  a  most  ex 
traordinary  example  of  magnanimous  fidelity. 

In  his  early  life,  Mr.  Dorr  manifested  the  most  deli 
cate  sense  of  moral  obligations ;  this  governed  all  his 
subsequent  life;  he  was  ever  the  most  precise  and 
punctual  of  all  men ;  there  was  nothing  but  truth  in 
himself,  and  he  expected  to  find  it  in  all  others  ;  conse 
quently  he  thought  too  well  of  the  world,  and  confided 
far  too  much  in  professions  and  promises.  To  one  pos 
sessed  of  a  less  degree  of  moral  integrity  the  perfidy  of 
others  might  have  been  less  unexpected  and  less  painful. 
But  when  his  intercourse  with  the  world  had  taught 
him  its  fickleness  and  its  treachery,  —  when  he  saw 
those  in  whom  he  had  reposed  entire  confidence  become 
his  enemies  and  persecutors,  and  came  to  reflect  upon 


THE   LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

the  injustice  and  infidelity  with  which  he  had  been  met, 
he  became,  in  a  measure,  misanthropic ;  and  although 
he  still  greeted  his  friends  with  as  much  warmth  as 
ever,  yet  he  became  distrustful  of  all  the  world  beside, 
and  disinclined  to  mingle  in  society  at  large. 

In  all  his  domestic  habits,  Mr.  Dorr  was  strictly  and 
rigidly  temperate,  and  his  social  intercourse  was  ever 
marked  with  those  becoming  courtesies  and  amenities 
which  betoken  a  highly  cultivated  and  refined  taste, 
and  before  the  political  storm  burst  upon  him  he  had 
few  or  no  enemies,  and  it  might  at  first  appear  some 
what  surprising  that  one  whose  whole  conduct  was  so 
respectful  and  courteous  should  so  suddenly  have  so 
many  and  so  bitter  enemies ;  but  this  is  readily  accounted 
for  when  we  consider  that  in  political  controversies 
there  is  always  a  large  class  of  men  who  have  no  fixed 
principles  of  their  own,  but  follow  the  lead  of  political 
weathercocks,  as  momentary  interest  or  inclination  may 
dictate.  As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  the  president 
of  the  United  States  would  sustain  the  charter  govern 
ment  with  the  national  troops,  hundreds  upon  hundreds, 
in  quick  succession,  abandoned  the  cause  of  the  people, 
and  rushed  boldly  to  the  standard  of  law  and  order  ; 
and  many,  who  but  a  short  time  before  were  among  the 
most  ardent  supporters  of  the  people's  constitution,  now 
became  suddenly  incensed  against  Dorr  and  his  party, 
and  often  prided  themselves  upon  their  political  prow 
ess,  and  vied  with  each  other  in  acts  of  violence  and 
injustice.  After  careful  inquiry  and  mature  deliberation, 
Mr.  Dorr  adopted  the  course  which  his  conscience 
approved,  and  no  dangers  or  difficulties  could  turn  him 


THOMAS   WILSON    DORR.  289 

aside  from  his  purpose.  When  the  weak  and  irresolute 
had  fallen  by  the  way,  and  his  enemies  had  overcome 
and  scattered  abroad  nearly  all  those  on  whom  he  had 
relied  for  support,  he  remained  firm  and  unmoved.  He 
stood  erect  and  alone,  and  defied  the  storms  like  a 
majestic  oak  in'  the  midst  of  a  forest  which  had  .been 
prostrated  by  some  wild  tornado  —  and  there  his  char 
acter  will  stand  through  all  coming  ages,  and  ever  grow 
brighter  as  time  rolls  on.  ' 

It  is  not  pretended  that  Mr.  Dorr  was  free  from  the 
errors,  imperfections,  and  infirmities  common  to  all  men. 
His  moral  sensibilities  led  him  into  mistakes ;  he 
thought  too  well  of  the  world,  and  his  standard  of 
ethics  was  fixed  too  high  for  practical  purposes  ;  he 
chose  to  consider  men  as  they  ought  to  be  rather  than 
as  they  really  are.  He  was  no  shrewd  calculator,  and 
had  too  little  selfishness  to  deal  with  mankind  to  his 
own  benefit ;  but  instead  of  taking  advantage  of  the 
errors  and  mistakes  of  other  men,  he  nobly  sought  to 
benefit  them  by  correcting  their  own  mistakes.  If  he 
had  been  false  to  his  own  convictions  and  the  interests 
of  his  fellow-men,  wrapped  up  in  his  own  selfishness, 
he  might  have  cast  himself  upon  the  swelling  tide  of 
popularity,  and  rode  fearlessly  upon  its  proudest  crests ; 
fanned  by  the  breezes  of  popular  favpr,  he  might  have 
basked  securely  in  its  glowing  sunshine,  and  mocked 
the  complaints  of  the  people.  Sitting  complacently 
upon  an  eminence,  where  fortune  had  placed  him,  he 
might  have  beheld,  with  a  haughty  indifference,  all  the 
petty  storms  that  should  rage  around  him.  But  nothing 
could  induce  him,  sacrilegiously,  to  violate  his  own  con- 
25 


290  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

science  j  his  aspirations  were  of  a  higher  and  nobler 
nature  ;  he  sought  not  to  exalt  himself,  but  to  elevate 
the  masses,  to  add  his  strength  to  their  weakness,  and 
restore  the  down-trodden  to  their  just  position  in  society. 
By  uniting  with  the  suffrage  party  he  had  nothing  to 
gain  for  himself,  but  every  thing  to  lose.  Wealth, 
with  its  gaudy  trappings,  he  despised;  he  listened 
reverently  to  the  teachings  of  his  own  conscience,  and 
looked  with  contempt  upon  empty  and  transitory  popu 
larity.  He  offered  his  best  services  to  his  fellow- men, 
not  to  gain  any  thing  for  himself,  but  to  benefit  them  ; 
and  in  his  fall  he  shared  the  fate  common  to  men  of 
great  mental  powers  and  moral  courage. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  same  class  of  men 
who  resisted  Mr.  Dorr  and  the  people  of  Rhode  Island, 
in  1842,  supported  the  notorious  Hartford  Convention, 
in  1812.  His  most  bitter  enemies  belonged  to  that 
same  old  party,  and  in  some  instances  were  the  very 
same  individuals  who  once  sat  in  that  nocturnal  con 
clave.  And,  indeed,  we  might  go  farther  back,  and 
show  that  men  of  the  same  political  character  that 
opposed  Washington,  Greene,  Adams,  and  Jefferson, 
when  the  American  people  were  struggling  against  the 
tyranny  of  Great  Britain,  opposed  Mr.  Dorr  and  the 
people  of  Rhode  Island,  when  they  were  struggling 
against  the  tyranny  of  their  own  state,  maintained 
under  the  pretext  of  a  British  charter. 

The  disease  of  which  Mr.  Dorr  died  was  Chronic 
Pemphigus.  This  affection  is  not  so  common  in  this 
country  as  in  some  others,  yet  when  it  has  made  its 
appearance  here,  in  adult  subjects,  we  believe  it  has 


THOMAS    WILSON    DORR.  291 

generally  been  induced  or  matured  by  confinement  in 
damp  or  unwholesome  situations. 

Mr.  Dorr  was  imprisoned,  in  all,  twenty  months. 
During  his  exile,  and  previous  to  his  arrest  in  Provi 
dence,  he  was  constantly  and  anxiously  engaged  in  phys 
ical  and  intellectual  exercises  ;  and,  again,  during  his 
long  harassing  trial  at  Newport,  in  consequence  of 
the  illness  of  his  principal  advocate,  he  was  obliged  to 
labor  incessantly  in  conjunction  with  his  remaining 
counsel,  in  the  management  of  his  defence*  The  whole 
case  was  a  novel  one.  He  was  compelled  to  take  his 
trial  among  strangers,  before  a  court  whose  every  word 
and  act  evinced  hostility  towards  him,  and  the  most 
implacable  of  his  enemies  stood  around,  thirsting  for 
his  blood  —  they  knew  not  why.  Under  all  these 
embarrassing  and  heart-rending  circumstances,  he 
labored  day  and  night  in  conducting  his  defence,  and 
reporting  the  trial;  and  as  soon  as  that  judicial  farce 
was  over,  he  was  immediately  thrust  into  a  filthy  dun 
geon,  whose  damp,  sepulchral  atmosphere  was  pregnant 
with  death.  As  a  stream  suddenly  dammed  up  soon 
recoils  upon  itself,  so  the  confinement  of  Mr.  Dorr 
shocked  and  deranged  his  system  ;  and  although  he  was 
somewhat  relieved  for  a  time,  by  being  allowed  to  walk 
iii  the  corridor,  yet  the  bad  air  of  his  prison  cell,  and 
the  want  of  cheerful  exercise,  continued  to  exert  their 
morbid  influence  upon  him  during  the  whole  period  of 
his  incarceration,  and  at  the  moment  of  his  liberation  it 
was  evident  that  his  protracted  imprisonment  had 
wrought  fearful  changes  in  his  physical  system.  The 
muscles  had  lost  their  tone,  the  hepatic  and  chylopoietic 


292  THE    LIFE    AND    TIMES    OF 

viscera  had  become  seriously  deranged,  and  a  Chronic 
Pemphigus  supervened,  under  which  he  finally  sank. 

There  are  few  individuals  who  can  long  endure  soli 
tary  imprisonment.  In  general,  it  is  equivalent  to  a 
lingering  death.  The  stillness  of  the  grave  creeps  over 
the  isolated  victim  encased  within  cold  stone  walls,  and 
life  goes  out  by  solitary  extinction.  Mr.  Dorr's  bodily 
organization,  his  social  and  domestic  habits,  were  illy 
adapted  to  such  a  condition,  and  if  his  confinement  had 
been  continued  much  longer  he  would  doubtless  have 
expired  in  prison.  Although  he  was  severely  indis 
posed  at  the  time  of  his  liberation,  yet  his  friends  in 
dulged  the  fond  hope  that  when  he  came  to  be  released 
from  that  dark  and  noisome  cell,  and  allowed  to 
breathe  pure  air  and  take  proper  exercise,  he  might 
regain  his  health ;  but  they  were  disappointed.  Not 
withstanding  every  reasonable  effort  was  made  to  im 
prove  his  condition,  he  continued  steadily  to  decline. 
By  confinement  his  system  had  suffered  irreparable 
morbid  changes,  and  no  human  means  could  stay  their 
progress.  He  bore  his  severe  sufferings  with  his  char 
acteristic  fortitude,  and  at  last  calmly  sunk  beneath  the 
weight  of  his  infirmities.  He  died  in  the  city  of  Provi 
dence,  Dec.  27,  1854,  aged  forty -nine  years.  Being  of 
Episcopal  parentage,  he  was  early  initiated  as  a  member 
of  that  church,  and  he  continued  steadfast  in  that  faith 
to  his  last  hour.  At  his  request,  a  few  days  before  his 
death,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Waterman,  rector  of  St.  Stephen's 
Church  in  Providence,  gave  him  the  sacrament.  He 
died  as  he  had  lived,  with  an  abiding  confidence  in  the 
truths  of  Christianity. 


THOMAS    WILSON   DORR.  293 

Let  those  who  are  disposed  to  impugn  his  motives 
and  asperse  his  character,  first  cleanse  their  own  gar 
ments  and  cast  the  beams  out  of  their  own  eyes,  and 
then,  if  they  can,  they  may  proceed  to  point  out  the 
dark  spots  in  his  character.  The  selfish,  unthinking 
multitude  may  not  recognize  in  him  any  unusual  de 
gree  of  moral  fidelity  ;  it  is  by  close  examination  and 
deep  reflection  that  his  character  is  best  understood. 
As  no  one  but  an  artist  can  judge  so  correctly  of  the 
beauty  of  a  piece  of  sculpture  or  painting,  «o  none  but 
those  possessed  of  high  moral  attainments  themselves 
can  fully  appreciate  the  prominent  traits  in  the  char 
acter  of  Mr.  Dorr.  But  when  that  time  does  come,  as 
come  it  must,  when  the  prejudice  against  him,  with  all 
its  bitterness  and  hatred,  shall  have  fully  passed  away, 
mankind  will  see  in  him  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
examples  of  virtuous  fidelity  which  the  history  of  the 
world  affords. 

25* 


APPENDIX. 


CHARTER  OF  1643,  GRANTED  UNDER  THE 
AUTHORITY  OF   PARLIAMENT. 

The  following  is  the  first  charter  to  the  people  of  Rhode 
Island,  incorporating  them  "by  the  name  of  the 
Incorporation  of  Providence  Plantations  in  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay  in  New  England"  granted  under  the 
authority  of  the  Parliament  of  England,  in  1643, 
giving  them  "full  power  and  authority  to  govern  and 
rule  themselves"  &c. 

WHEREAS  by  an  Ordinance  of  y*  Lords  and  Comons 
now  assembled  in  Parliament  bearing  date  the  &d  day 
of  November  Anno  Dom,  1643.  Robert  Earlle  of 
Warwick  is  constituted  &  ordained  Governor  in  Chief 
&  Lord  high  Admiral  of  all  thos  Islands  and  other 
Plantations  inhabited  and  planted  by  or  belonging  to 
any  of  his  Majesties  ye  King  of  England  subjects  (or 
wch  hereafter  may  be  inhabited  and  planted  by  or  be 
longing  to  them)  wthin  y6  bounds  and  upon  ye  Coasts  of 
America,  And  whereas  ye  said  Lords  &  Comons  have 
thought  fitt  and  thereby  ordained,  y*  Phillipp  Earle 
of  Pembroke,  Edward  Earle  of  Manchester,  William 
Yicont  Say  and  Seale,  Phillipp  Lord  Whorton,  John 
Lord  Roberts,  members  of  y*  house  of  Peers,  Sir  Gilbert 
Garard,  barrenet,  Sir  Arthur  Helsrigge,  Barrenet,  Sir 
Henry  Vauue  Junior  Knight,  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyerd, 

(295) 


Knight,  John  Pirn,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Dennis  Bone/., 
Miles  Corbett,  Cornelius  Holland,  Sammuell  Vassell,. 
John  Kolle  and  William  Spurstowe,  Esquirese  members 
of  y*  house  of  Comons,  should  be  Commissioners  to 
joyne  in  aide  &  assistance  wth  y®  said  Earle. 

And  whereas  for  the  better  governing  &  preserving 
of  y*  said  Plantations  it  is  thereby  ordained,  y*  the 
aforesaid  Govern1"  and  commrs  or  ye  greater  number  of 
them  shall  have  power  and  authority  from  time  to  time., 
to  nominate,  appoint,  &  constitute,  all  such  subordinat 
Govern™  Counselors,  Commanders,  officers,  and  agents, 
as  they  shall  judge  to  be  best  affected,  and  most  fitt  and 
serviceable  to  govern  ye  said  Islands  &  Plantations,  and 
to  provid  for,  ordere,  &  dispose  all  things  wch  they  shall 
from  time  to  time  find  most  fitt  and  advantageouse  for 
ye  said  Plantation,  and  for  the  better  security  of  y* 
owners  &  inhabitants  thereof  to  Assine  ratify  &  con- 
firme,  soe  much  of  their  afore  mentioned  authority  & 
power,  and  in  such  manner,  &  to  such  Parsons,  as  they 
shall  Judge  to  be  fitt,  for  ye  better  Governing  &  pre^ 
serving  of  ye  said  Plantations  &  Islands  from  open, 
violence,  prejudice,  disturbance  and  distractions.  And 
whereas  their  is  a  tract  of  Land  in  ye  Continent  of 
America  aforesaid  called  by  ye  name  of  ye  Naragansett" 
Bay,  bordering  North  and  Northest  on  the  Patten  of  ye 
Massechusetts,  East  &  Southeast  on  Plymouth  Patten, 
south  on  ye  oation,  and  on  ye  weast  and  Northweast  By 
Indians  called  Nahoggansucks  alias  Narragansetts ;  y* 
whole  tract  extending  about  twenty  and  five  English 
miles,  into  ye  Pecut  river  and  Country,  and  whereas 
divers  well  affected  and  industrious  English  Inhabitants 
of  ye  Townes  of  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and  Newport, 
in  the  tract  aforesaid,  have  adventured  to  make  a  nearer 
neighborhood  &  sosiaty  to  &  wch  ye  great  body  of  the 
Narragansetts  wcb  may  in  time  by  ye  blessing  of  GOD 
upon  their  endeavours  lay  a  surer  foundation  of  happi 
ness  to  all  America,  &  have  also  purchased,  &  are  pur- 


APPENDIX.  297 

chasing  of  &  amonst  y8  said  Natives,  some  other  places 
wch  may  be  convenient  both  for  plantation,  and  also 
for  Building  of  shipps,  supply  of  pipe  staves,  &  other 
Marchandice  ;  And  whereas  ye  said  English  have  repre 
sented  their  desires  to  ye  said  Earle  and  Comm*8  to 
have  their  hopeful  beginnings  approved  and  confirmed 
by  granting  unto  ym  a  free  charter  of  civel  incorpora 
tion  and  Gouvornment,  yfc  they  may  order  and  govern 
their  plantations,  in  such  manner  as  to  maintain  justice, 
&  peace  both  amongst  themselves  and  towards  almen, 
wth  whom  they  shall  have  £o  doe  ;  In  due  consideration 
of  ye  Premises  ye  said  Robert  Earle  of  Warwick  Cov 
er"  in  Chiefe,  Lord  High  Admirall  of  ye  said  Planta 
tions,  and  ye  greater  Number  of  ye  said  Commissionours, 
whose  names  and  seales  are  her  under  written  and  sub- 
joyned  out  of  a  desire  to  incourage  ye  good  beginnings 
of  ye  said  Plantations,  doe  by  ye  authority  of  ye  afore 
said  ordinance  of  Lords  &  comons  give  grant  &  confirm 
to  ye  aforesaid  Inhabitants  of  ye  Towns  of  Providence, 
Portsmouth,  and  Newport,  a  free  and  absolute  Charter, 
of  civel  incorporation,  to  be  known,  by  y6  name  of  the 
Incorporation  of  Providence  Plantations,  in  the  Narra- 
ganset  bay  in  New  England,  together  wth  full  power 
and  authority,  to  Govern  and  rule  themselves,  and  such 
others  as  shall  hereaftere  inhabitt  tuthm  any  part  of  ye 
said  tract  of  Land  by  such  a  forme  of  Civel  Govermnt 
as  by  voluntary  consent  of  all  or  ye  greatest  part  of  thm 
shall  be  found  most  serviceable  in  their  Estates  and  con 
dition  and  to  that  end,  to  make  and  ordain  such  civel 
Laws  and  constitutions  and  to  inflict  such  Punishmts 
uppon  transgressors  and  for  execution  thereof  soe  to 
place  &  displace,  Officers  of  Justice,  as  they  or  ye 
greatest  part  of  ym  shall  by  free  consent  agree  unto  — 
Provided  nevertheless  yfc  ye  said  Laws,  Constitutions 
and  Punishments  for  ye  civell  Govern™*  of  ye  said  Plan 
tation  be  conformable  to  ye  Lawes  of  England,  soe  farre 
as  ye  nature  &  Constitution  of  ye  place  will  admitt ; 


APPENDIX. 

And  always  reserving  to  ye  said  Earle  and  Commra  and 
there  successors  power  and  authority  soe  to  dispose  ye 
General  Govermt  of  y*  as  it  stands  in  refferance  to  ye 
rest  of  ye  Plantations  in  America,  as  they  shall  commis- 
sionate  from  time  to  time  most  conducing  to  ye  Generall 
good  of  y€  said  Plantations,  ye  Honour  of  his  Magisty, 
&  ye  sarvice  of  this  State,  and  ye  said  Earll  &  Commrs 
doe  further  authorice  ye  aforesaid  Inhabitants,  for  ye 
better  transacting  of  there  Publique  affaires  to  make 
and  use  a  Publique  scale  as  ye  knowne  scale  of  Provi 
dence  Plantations  in  ye  Narragansetts  Bay  in  New 
England,  in  Testimony  whereof  ye  said  Robert  Earle  of 
Warwick  &  commrs  have  hereunto  set  there  hands  and 
scales  ye  seventeenth  day  of  March  y°  nineteenth  year 
of  ye  Raine  of  our  Soveraine  Lord  King  Charles  and  in 
ye  yeare  of  our  Lord  GOD  1643. 

ROBERT  WARWICK. 

Phillip  Pembrook,  Say  &  Scale,  P.  Whartone,  Ar 
thur  Helsrige,  Cor.  Holland,  Hen.  Vane,  Sam  Vassell, 
John  Rool,  Miles  Corbet. 


CHARTER  GRANTED  BY  KING  CHARLES  II. 

Charles,  the  Second,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of 
England,  Scotland,  France,  and  Ireland,  defender  of  the 
faith,  &c.,  to  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come, 
greeting  :  Whereas  we  have  been  informed  by  the 
humble  petition  of  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  subject, 
John  Clarke,  on  the  behalf  of  Benedict  Arnold,  William 
Brenton,  William  Coddington,  Nicholas  Easton,  Wil 
liam  Boulston,  John  Porter,  John  Smith,  Samuel  Gor 
ton,  John  Weeks,  Roger  Williams,  Thomas  Olney, 
Gregory  Dexter,  John  Coggeshall,  Joseph  Clarke, 
Randall  Holden,  John  Greene,  John  Roome,  Samuel 


APPENDIX.  299 . 

Wildbore,  William  Field,  James  Barker,  Richard  Tew, 
Thomas  Harris,  and  William  Dyre,  and  the  rest  of  the 
purchasers  and  free  inhabitants  of  our  island,  called 
Rhode  Island,  and  the  rest  of  the  colony  of  Providence 
Plantations,  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England, 
in  America,  that  they,  pursuing,  with  peaceable  and  loyal 
minds,  their  sober,  serious,  and  religious  intentions,  of 
godly  edifying  themselves,  and  one  another,  in  the  holy 
Christian  faith  and  worship,  as  they  were  persuaded  ; 
together  with  the  gaining  over  and  conversion  of  the 
poor  ignorant  Indian  natives,  in  those  parts  of  America, 
to  the  sincere  profession  and  obedience  of  the  same  faith 
and  worship,  did,  not  only  by  the  consent  and  good 
encouragement  of  our  royal  progenitors,  transport  them 
selves  out  of  this  kingdom  of  England  into  America, 
but  also,  since  their  arrival  there,  after  their  first  settle 
ment  amongst  other  our  subjects  in  those  parts,  for  the 
avoiding  of  discord,  and  those  many  evils  which  were 
likely  to  ensue  upon  some  of  those  our  subjects  not 
being  able  to  bear,  in  these  remote  parts,  their  different 
apprehensions  in  religious  concernments,  and,  in  pur 
suance  of  the  aforesaid  ends,  did  once  again  leave  their 
desirable  stations  and  habitations,  and  with  excessive 
labor  and  travel,  hazard  and  charge,  did  transplant 
themselves  into  the  midst  of  the  Indian  natives,  who, 
as  we  are  informed,  are  the  most  potent  princes  and 
people  of  all  that  country  ;  where,  by  the  good  Provi 
dence  of  God,  from  whom  the  Plantations  have  taken 
their  name,  upon  their  labor  and  industry,  they  have 
not  only  been  preserved  to  admiration,  but  have  in 
creased  and  prospered,  and  are  seized  and  possessed,  by 
purchase  and  consent  of  the  said  natives,  to  their  full 
content,  of  such  lands,  islands,  rivers,  harbors  and 
roads,  as  are  very  convenient,  both  for  plantations, 
and  also  for  building  of  ships,  supply  of  pipe  staves,  and 
other  merchandise  :  and  which  lie  very  commodious,  in 
many  respects,  for  commerce,  and  to  accommodate  our 


300  APPENDIX. 

southern  plantations,  and  may  much  advance  the  trade 
of  this  our  realm,  and  greatly  enlarge  the  territories 
thereof;  they  having,  by  near  neighborhood  to  and 
friendly  society  with  the  great  body  of  the  Narragansett 
Indians,  given  them  enqouragement,  of  their  own  ac- 
C9rd,  to  subject  themselves,  their  people,  and  lands 
unto  us  ;  whereby,  as  is  hoped,  there  may,  in  time,  by 
the  blessing  of  God  upon  their  endeavors,  be  laid  a  sure 
foundation  of  happiness  to  all  America :  and  whereas, 
in  their  humble  address,  they  have  freely  declared,  that 
it  is  much  on  their  hearts  (if  they  may  be  permitted) 
to  hold  forth  a  lively  experiment,  that  a  most  nourish 
ing  civil  state  may  stand  and  best  be  maintained,  and 
that  among  our  English  subjects,  with  a  full  liberty  in 
religious  concernments  ;  and  that  true  piety,  rightly 
grounded  upon  gospel  principles,  will  give  the  best  and 
greatest  security  to  sovereignty,  and  will  lay  in  the 
hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligations  to  true  loyalty  : 
Now  know  ye,  that  we,  being  willing  to  encourage  the 
hopeful  undertaking  of  our  said  loyal  and  loving  sub 
jects,  and  to  secure  them  in  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  all  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  apper 
taining  to  them  as  our  loving  subjects  ;  and  to  preserve 
unto  them  that  liberty,  in  the  true  Christian  faith  and 
worship  of  God,  which  they  have  sought  with  so  much 
travail,  and  with  peaceable  minds,  and  loyal  subjection 
to  our  royal  progenitors  and  ourselves,  to  enjoy  :  and 
because  some  of  the  people  and  inhabitants  of  the  same 
colony  cannot,  in  their  private  opinions,  conform  to  the 
public  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  liturgy, 
forms,  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  England,  or 
take  or  subscribe  the  oaths  and  articles  made  and  estab 
lished  in  that  behalf ;  and  for  that  the  same,  by  reason 
of  the  remote  distances  of  those  places,  will  (as  we 
hope)  be  no  breach  of  the  unity  and  uniformity  estab 
lished  in  this  nation  :  Have  therefore  thought  fit,  and 
do  hereby  publish,  grant,  ordain,  and  declare,  that  our 


APPENDIX.  301 

royal  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  no  person  within  the 
said  colony,  at  any  time  hereafter,  shall  be  any  wise 
molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question, 
for  any  differences  in  opinion  in  matters  of  religion,  and 
do  not  actually  disturb  the  civil  peace  of  our  said  'col 
ony  ;  but  that  all  and  every  person  and  persons  may, 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  freely  and 
fully  have  and  enjoy  his  and  their  own  judgments 
and  consciences,  in  matters  of  religious  concernments, 
throughout  the  tract  of  land  hereafter  mentioned,  they 
behaving  themselves  peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not 
using  this  liberty  to  licentiousness  and  profaneness,  nor 
to  the  civil  injury  or  outward  disturbance  of  others  ; 
any  law,  statute,  or  clause,  therein  contained,  or  to  be 
contained,  usage  or  custom  of  this  realm,  to  the  con 
trary  hereof,  in  any  wise,  notwithstanding.  And  that 
they  may  be  in  the  better  capacity  to  defend  themselves, 
in  their  just  rights  and  liberties,  against  all  the  enemies 
of  the  Christian  faith,  and  others,  in  all  respects,  we 
have  further  thought  fit,  and,  at  the  .humble  petition  of 
the  persons  aforesaid,  are  graciously  pleased  to  declare, 
that  they  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  benefit  of  our  late 
act  of  indemnity  and  free  pardon,  as  the  rest  of  our 
subjects  in  other  our  dominions  and  territories  have ; 
and  to  create  and  make  them  a  body  politic  or  corporate, 
with  the  powers  and  privileges  hereinafter  mentioned. 
And  accordingly  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  of  our 
especial  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion, 
we  have  ordained,  constituted,  and  declared,  and  by 
these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  do 
ordain,  constitute,,  and  declare,  that  they,  the  said  Wil 
liam  Brenton,  William  Coddington,  Nicholas  Easton, 
Benedict  Arnold,  William  Boulston,  John  Porter,  Sam 
uel  Gorton,  John  Smith,  John  Weeks,  Eoger  Williams, 
Thomas  Olney,  Gregory  Dexter,  John  Coggeshall,  Jo 
seph  Clarke,  Randall  Holden,  John  Greene,  John 
Roome,  William  Dyre,  Samuel  Wildbore,  Richard  Tew, 
26 


303  APPENDIX. 

"William    Field,  Thomas    Harris,   James    Barker, 

Rainsborrow, Williams,   and   John  Nickson,  and 

all  such  others  as  now  are,  or  hereafter  shall  be,  ad 
mitted  and  made  free  of  the  company  and  society  of 
our  colony  of  Providence  Plantations,  in  the  Narra- 
gansett  Bay,  in  New  England,  shall  be,  from  time  to 
time,  and  forever  hereafter,  a  body  corporate  and  pol 
itic,  in  fact  and  name,  by  the  name  of  the  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  Plantations,  in  New  England,  in  Amer 
ica  ;  and  that,  by  the  same  name,  they  and  their  suc 
cessors  shall  and  may  have  perpetual  succession,  and 
shall  and  may  be  persons  able  and  capable,  in  the  law, 
to  sue  and  be  sued,  to  plead  and  be  impleaded,  to  an 
swer  and  be  answered  unto,  to  defend  and  to  be  de 
fended,  in  all  and  singular  suits,  causes,  quarrels,  mat 
ters,  actions,  and  things,  of  what  kind  or  nature  soever; 
and  also  to  have,  take,  possess,  acquire,  and  purchase 
lands,  tenements,  or  hereditaments,  or  any  goods  or 
chattels,  and  the  "same  to  lease,  grant,  demise,  aliene, 
bargain,  sell,  and  dispose  of,  at  their  own  will  and 
pleasure',  as  other  our  liege  people  of  this  our  realm  of 
England,  or  any  corporation  or  body  politic  within  the 
same,  may  lawfully  do.  And  further,  that  they,  the 
said  Governor  and  Company,  and  their  successors,  shall 
and  may,  forever  hereafter,  have  a  common  seal,  to 
serve  and  use  for  all  matters,  causes,  things,  and  affairs, 
whatsoever,  of  them  and  their  successors ;  and  the 
same  seal  to  alter,  change,  break,  and  make  new,  from 
time  to  time,  at  their  will  and  pleasure,  as  they  shall 
think  fit.  And  further,  we  will  and  ordain,  and  by 
these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  do  de 
clare  and  appoint  that,  for  the  better  ordering  and  man 
aging  of  the  affairs  and  business  of  the  said  company, 
and  their  successors,  there  shall  be  one  governor,  one 
deputy  governor,  and  ten  assistants,  to  be  from  time  to 
time  constituted,  elected,  and  chosen  out  of  the  freemen 


APPENDIX.  303 

of  the  said  Company  for  the  time  being,  in  such  manner 
and  form  as  is  hereafter  in  these  presents  expressed ; 
which  said  officers  shall  apply  themselves  to  take  care 
for  the  best  disposing  and  ordering  of  the  general 
business  and  affairs  of  and  concerning  the  lands  and 
hereditaments  hereinafter  mentioned  to  be  granted,  and 
the  plantation  thereof,  and  the  government  of  the  peo 
ple  there.  And,  for  the  better  execution  of  our  royal 
pleasure  herein,  we  do,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors^ 
assign,  name,  constitute,  and, appoint  the  aforesaid  Ben 
edict  Arnold  to  be  the  first  and  present  governor  of 
the  said  Company,  and  the  said  William  Brenton  to  I*) 
the  deputy  governor,  and  the  said  William  Boulston, 
John  Porter,  Roger  Williams,  Thomas  Olney,  John 
Smith,  John  Greene,  John  Coggeshall,  James  Barker, 
William  Field,  and  Joseph  Clarke,  to  be  the  ten  present 
assistants  of  the  said  Company,  to  continue  in  the  said 
several  offices,  respectively,  until  the  first  Wednesday 
which  shall  be  in  the  month  of  May  now  next  coming. 
And  further,  we  will,  and  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  do  ordain  and  grant  that  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  said  Company  for  the  time  being,  or,  in 
his  absence,  by  occasion  of  sickness,  or  otherwise,  by 
his  leave  and  permission,  the  deputy  governor  for  the 
time  being,  shall  and  may,  from  time  to  time,  upon  all 
occasions,  give  order  for  the  assembling  of  the  said 
Company  and  calling  them  together,  to  consult  and  ad 
vise  of  the  business  and  affairs  of  the  said  Company. 
And  that  forever  hereafter,  twice  in  every  year  —  that 
is  to  say,  on  every  first  Wednesday  in  the  month  of 
May,  and  on  every  last  Wednesday  in  October,  or 
ofterier  in  case  it  shall  be  requisite,  —  the  assistants  and 
such  of  the  freemen  of  the  said  Company,  not  exceed 
ing  six  persons  for  Newport,  four  persons  for  each  of 
the  respective  towns  of  Providence,  Portsmouth,  and 
Warwick,  and  two  persons  for  each  other  place,  town, 
or  city,  who  shall  be,  from  time  to  time,  thereunto 


304  APPENDIX. 

elected  or  deputed  by  the  major  part  of  the  freemen  of 
the  respective  towns  or  places  for  which  they  shall  be 
so  elected  or  deputed,  shall  have  a  general  meeting  or 
assembly,  then  and  there  to  consult,  advise,  and  deter 
mine  in  and  about  the  affairs  and  business  of  the  said 
Company  and  Plantations.  And  further,  we  do,  of  our 
especial  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion, 
give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company  of 
the  English  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  in  New  England,  in  America,  and  their 
successors,  that  the  governor,  or,  in  his  absence,  or  by 
his  permission,  the  deputy  governor  of  the  said  Com 
pany,  for  the  time  being,  the  assistants,  and  such  of 
the  freemen  of  the  said  Company  as  shall  be  so  as  afore 
said  elected  or  deputed,  or  so  many  of  them  as  shall  be 
present  at  such  meeting  or  assembly  as  aforesaid,  shall 
be  called  the  General  Assembly  ;  and  that  they,  or  the 
greatest  part  of  them  present,  whereof  the  governor, 
or  deputy  governor,  and  six  of  the  assistants,  at  least 
to  be  seven,  shall  have,  and  have  hereby  given  and 
granted  unto  them,  full  power  and  authority,  from  time 
to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  to  appoint,  alter,  and 
change  such  days,  times,  and  places  of  meeting  and 
General  Assembly  as  they  shall  think  fit ;  and  to  choose, 
nominate,  and  appoint  such  and  so  many  other  persons 
as  they  shall  think  Jit,  and  shall  be  willing  to  accept  the 
same,  to  be  free  of  the  said  Company  and  body  politic, 
and  them  into  the  same  to  admit ;  and  to  elect  and  con 
stitute  such  offices  and  officers,  and  to  grant  such 
needful  commissions,  as  they  shall  think  fit  and  re 
quisite  for  the  ordering,  managing,  and  despatching  of 
the  affairs  of  the  said  Governor  and  Company  and  their 
successors ;  and,  from  time  to  time,  to  make,  ordain, 
constitute,  or  repeal  such  laws,  statutes,  orders,  and  or 
dinances,  forms  and  ceremonies  of  government  and  ma 
gistracy,  as  to  them  shall  seem  meet,  for  the  good  and 
welfare  of  the  said  Company,  and  for  the  government 


APPENDIX.  305 

and  ordering  of  the  lands  and  hereditaments  hereinafter 
mentioned  to  be  granted,  and  of  the  people  that  do,  or 
at  any  time  hereafter  shall,  inhabit  or  be  within  the 
same ;  so  as  such  laws,  ordinances,  and  constitutions  so 
made  be  not  contrary  and  repugnant  unto,  but  as  near 
as  may  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  this  our  realm  of 
England,  considering  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the 
place  and  people  there,  and  also  to  appoint,  order 
and  direct,  erect  and  settle,  such  places  and  courts  of 
jurisdiction,  for  the  hearing  and  determining  of  all 
actions,  cases,  matters,  and  things  happening  within  the 
said  colony  and  plantation,  and  which  shall  be  in  dis- 
pute  and  depending  there,  as  they  shall  think  fit ;  and 
also  to  distinguish  and  set  forth  the  several  names  and 
titles,  duties,  powers,  and  limits  of  each  court,  office, 
and  officer,  superior  and  inferior ;  and  also  to  contrive 
and  appoint  such  forms  of  oaths  and  attestations,  not 
repugnant,  but,  as  near  as  may  be,  agreeable,  as  afore 
said,  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  our  realm,  as  are 
convenient  and  requisite,  with  respect  to  the  due  ad 
ministration  of  justice  and  due  execution  and  discharge 
of  all  offices  and  places  of  trust  by  the  persons  that 
shall  be  therein  concerned ;  and  also  to  regulate  and  order 
the  way  and  manner  of  all  elections  to  offices  and  places  of 
trust,  and  to  prescribe,  limit,  and  distinguish  the  numbers 
and  bounds  of  all  places,  towns,  or  cities,  within  the  lim 
its  and  bounds  hereinafter  mentioned,  and  not  herein  par 
ticularly  named,  who  have,  or  shall  have,  the  power  of 
electing  and  sending  of  freemen  to  the  said  General  As 
sembly  ;  and  also  to  order,  direct,  and  authorize  the  im 
posing  of  lawful  and  reasonable  fines,  mulcts,  imprison 
ments,  and  executing  other  punishments,  pecuniary  and 
corporal,  upon  offenders  and  delinquents,  according  to  the 
course  of  other  corporations  within  this  our  kingdom  of 
England;  and  again  to  alter,  revoke,  annul,  or  par 
don,  under  their  common  seal,  or  otherwise,  such  fines, 
mulcts,  imprisonments,  sentences,  judgments,  and  con- 
£6* 


306  APFENDIX. 

demnations,  as  shall  be  thought  fit ;  and  to  direct,  rule, 
order,  and  dispose  of  all  other  matters  and  things,  and 
particularly  that  which  relates  to  the  making  of  pur 
chases  of  the  native  Indians,  as  to  them  shall  seem 
meet ;  whereby  our  said  people  and  inhabitants  in  the 
said  Plantations  may  be  so  religiously,  peaceably,  and 
civilly  governed,  as  that,  by  their  good  life  and  orderly 
conversation,  they  may  win  and  invite  the  native  In 
dians  of  the  country  to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of 
the  only  true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind ;  willing, 
commanding,,  and  requiring,  and  by  these  presents,  for 
us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  ordaining  and  appointing 
'that  all  such  laws,  statutes,  orders,  and  ordinances,  in 
structions,  impositions,  and  directions,  as  shall  be  so 
made  by  the  governor,  deputy  governor,  assistants, 
and  freemen,  or  such  number  of  them  as  aforesaid,  and 
published  in  writing,  under  their  common  seal,  shall  be 
carefully  and  duly  observed,  kept,  performed,  and  put 
in  execution,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
of  the  same;  And  these  our  letters  patent,  or  the  du 
plicate  or  exemplification  thereof,  shall  be  to  all  and 
every  such  officer,  superior  or  inferior,  from  time  to- 
time,  for  the  putting  of  the  same  orders,  laws,  statutes, 
ordinances,  instructions,  and  directions,  in  due  execu 
tion,  against  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  a  sufficient 
warrant  and  discharge.  And  further,  our  will  and 
pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and 
successors,  establish  and  ordain,  that  yearly,  once  in  the 
year,  forever,  hereafter,  namely,  the  aforesaid  Wednes 
day  in  May,  and  at  the  town  of  Newport,  or  elsewhere, 
if  urgent  occasion  do  require,  the  governor,  deputy 
governor,  and  assistants  of  the  said  Company,  and 
other  officers  of  the  said  Company,  or  such  of  them  as 
the  General  Assembly  shall  think  fit,  shall  be,  in  the 
said  General  Court  or  Assembly  to  be  held  from  that 
day  or  time,  newly  chosen  for  the  year  ensuing,  by  such 
greater  part  of  the  said  Company,  for  the  time  -being, 


APPENDIX.  o07 

as  shall  be  then  and  there  present ;  and  if  it  shall  hap 
pen  that  the  present  governor,  deputy  governor,  and 
assistants,  by  these  presents  appointed,  or  any  such  as 
shall  hereafter  be  newly  chosen  into  their  rooms,  or  any 
of  them,  or  any  other  the  officers  of  the  said  Company, 
shall  die  or  be  removed  from  his  or  their  several  offices 
or  places,  before  the  said  general  day  of  election, 
(whom  we  do  hereby  declare,  for  any  misdemeanor  or 
default,  to  be  removable  by  the  governor,  assistants,  and 
Company,  or  such  greater  part  of  them,  in  any  of  the 
said  public  courts,  to  be  assembled  as  aforesaid,)  that 
then,  and  in  every  such  case,  it  shall,  and  •  may  be  law 
ful  to  and  for  the  said  governor,  deputy  governor, 
assistants,  and  Company  aforesaid,  or  such  greater  part 
of  them,  so  as  to  be  assembled  as  is  aforesaid,  in  any 
their  assemblies,  to  proceed  to  a  -new  election  of  one  or 
more  of  their  Company,  in  the  room  or  place,  rooms  or 
places,  of  such  officer  or  officers,  so  dying,  removed, 
according  to  their  discretions  ;  and  immediately  upon  and 
after  such  election  or  elections  made  of  such  governor, 
deputy  governor,  assistant,  or  assistants,  or  any  other 
officer  of  the  said  Company,  in  manner  and  form  afore 
said,  the  authority,  office,  and  power,  before  given  to  the 
former  governor,  deputy  governor,  and  other  officer  and 
officers,  so  removed,  in  whose  stead  and  place  new  shall 
be  chosen,  shall,  as  to  him  and  them,  and  every  of  them, 
respectively,  cease  and  determine :  Provided  always, 
and  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  as  well  such  as  are 
by  these  presents  appointed  to  be  the  present  governor, 
deputy  governor,  and  assistants,  of  the  said  Company, 
as  those  that  shall  succeed  them,  and  all  other  officers 
to  be  appointed  and  chosen  as  aforesaid,  shall,  before 
the  undertaking  the  execution  of  the  said  offices  and 
places  respectively,  give  their  solemn  engagement,  by 
oath,  or  otherwise,  for  the  due  and  faithful  performance 
of  their  duties  in  their  several  offices  and  places,  before 
such  person  or  persons  as  are  by  these  presents  hereafter 


308  APPENDIX. 

appointed  to  take  and  receive  the  same,  that  is  to  say : 
the  said  Benedict  Arnold,  who  is  hereinbefore  nomi 
nated  and  appointed  the  present  governor  of  the  said 
Company,  shall  give  the  aforesaid  engagement  before 
William  Brenton,  or  any  two  of  the  said  assistants  of  the 
said  Company  ;  unto  whom  we  do  by  these  presents 
give  full  power  and  authority  to  require  and  receive  the 
same  ;  and  the  said  William  Brenton,  who  is  hereby 
before  nominated  and  appointed  the  present  deputy 
governor  of  the  said  Company,  shall  give  the  aforesaid 
engagement  before  the  said  Benedict  Arnold,  or  any  two 
of  the  assistants  of  the  said  Company ;  and  unto  whom 
we  do  by  these  presents  give  full  power  and  authority 
to  require  and  receive  the  same ;  and  the  said  William 
Boulston,  John  Porter,  Roger  Williams,  Thomas  Ol- 
ney,  John  Smith,  John  Greene,  John  Coggeshall, 
James  Barker,  William  Field,  and  Joseph  Clarke, 
who  are  hereinbefore  nominated  and  appointed  the 
present  assistants  of  the  said  Company,  shall  give 
the  said  engagement  to  their  offices  and  places  re 
spectively  belonging,  before  the  said  Benedict  Arnold 
and  William  Brenton,  or  one  of  them ;  to  whom 
respectively  we  do  hereby  give  full  power  and  author 
ity  to  require,  administer,  or  receive  the  same  :  and 
further,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  all  and  every 
other  future  governor  or  deputy  governor,  to  be  elected 
and  chosen  by  virtue  of  these  presents,  shall  give  the 
said  engagement  before  two  or  more  of  the  said  assist 
ants  of  the  said  Company  for  the  time  being;  unto 
whom  we  do  by  these  presents  give  full  power  and 
authority  to  require,  administer,  or  receive  the  same : 
and  the  said  assistants,  and  every  of  them,  and  all  and 
every  other  officer  or  officers  to  be  hereafter  elected  and 
chosen  by  virtue  of  these  presents,  from  time  to  time, 
shall  give  the  like  engagements,  to  their  offices  and 
places  respectively  belonging,  before  the  governor  or 
deputy  governor  for  the  time  being ;  unto  which  said 


APPENDIX.  309 

governor,  or  deputy  governor,  we  do  by  these  pres 
ents  give  full  power  and  authority  to  require,  admin 
ister,  or  receive  the  same  accordingly.  And  we  do 
likewise,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  give  and 
grant  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company,  and  their 
successors,  by  these  presents,  that,  for  the  more  peace 
able  and  orderly  government  of  the  said  Plantations, 
it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for*  the  governor,  deputy 
governor,  assistants,  and  all  other  officers  and  min 
isters  of  the  said  Company,  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  and  exercise  of  government,  in  the  said  Plan 
tations,  to  use,  exercise,  and  put  in  execution,  such 
methods,  rules,  orders,  and  directions,  not  being  con 
trary  or  repugnant  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  our 
realm,  as  have  been  heretofore  given,  used,  and  accus 
tomed,  in  such  cases,  respectively,  to  be  put  in  practice, 
until  at  the  next,  or  some  other  General  Assembly,  spe 
cial  provision  shall  be  made  and  ordained  in  the  cases 
aforesaid.  And  we  do  further,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  succes 
sors,  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company, 
and  their  successors,  by  these  presents,  that  it  shall  and 
may  be  lawful  to  and  for  the  "said  governor,  or  in  his 
absence,  the  deputy  governor,  and  major  part  of  the 
said  assistants  for  the  time  being,  at  any  time  when  the 
said  General  Assembly  is  not  sitting,  to  nominate,  ap 
point,  and  constitute  such  and  so  many  commanders, 
governors,  and  military  officers  as  to  them  shall  seem 
requisite  for  the  leading,  conducting,  and  training  up 
the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Plantations  in  martial  affairs, 
and  for  the  defence  and  safeguard  of  the  said  Planta 
tions  ;  and  that  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for 
all  and  every  such  commander,  governor,  and  military 
officer,  that  shall  be  so  as  aforesaid,  or  by  the  governor, 
or,  in  his  absence,  the  deputy  governor  and  six  of  the 
said  assistants,  and  major  part  of  the  freemen  of  the 
said  Company  present  at  any  General  Assemblies,  nom 
inated,  appointed,  and  constituted  according  to  the 


310  APPENDIX. 

tenor  of  Ms  and  their  respective  commissions  and 
directions,  to  assemble,  exercise  in  arms,  martial  array, 
and  put  in  warlike  posture  the  inhabitants  of  the  said 
colony,  for  their  special  defence  and  safety ;  and  to  lead 
and  conduct  the  said  inhabitants,  and  to  encounter,  ex- 
pulse,  expel,  and  resist,  by  force  of  arms,  as  well  by 
sea  as  by  land,  and  also  to  kill,  slay,  and  destroy,  by  all 
fitting  ways,  enterprise^,  and  means  whatsoever,  all  and 
every  such  person  or  persons  as  shall,  at  any  time  here 
after,  attempt  or  enterprise  the  destruction,  invasion, 
detriment,  or  annoyance  of  the  said  inhabitants  or  Plan 
tations  ;  and  to  use  and  exercise  the  law  martial  in 
such  cases  only  as  occasion  shall  necessarily  require ; 
and  to  take  or  surprise,  by  all  ways  and  means  what 
soever,  all  and  every  such  person  and  persons,  with 
their  ship  or  ships,  armor,  ammunition,  or  other  goods 
of  such  persons  as  shall,  in  hostile  manner,  invade  or 
attempt  the  defeating  of  the  said  Plantation,  or  the  hurt 
of  the  said  Company  and  inhabitants  ;  and,  upon  just 
causes,  to  invade  and  destroy  the  native  Indians,  or 
other  enemies  of  the  said-  colony.  Nevertheless,  our 
will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  declare  to  the 
rest  of  our  colonies  in  New  England,  that  it  shall  not 
be  lawful  for  this  our  said  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  in  America,  in  New  England, 
to  invade  the  natives  inhabiting  within  the  bounds  and 
limits  of  their  said  colonies,  without  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  said  other  colonies.  And  it  is  hereby 
declared,  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  to  or  for  the  rest  of 
the  colonies  to  invade  or  molest  the  native  Indians,  or 
any  other  inhabitants,  inhabiting  within  the  bounds 
and  limits  hereafter  mentioned,  (they  having  subjected 
themselves  unto  us,  and  being  by  us  taken  into  our 
special  protection,)  without  the  knowledge  and  consent 
of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  our  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations.  Also  our  will  and 
pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby  declare  unto  all  Christian 


APPENDIX.  311 

kings,  princes,  and  states,  that  if  any  person,  which 
shall  hereafter  be  of  the  said  Company  or  Plantation, 
or  any  other,  by  appointment  of  the  said  Governor  and 
Company  for  the  time  being,  shall,  at  any  time  or  times 
hereafter,  rob  or  spoil,  by  sea  or  land,  or  do  any  hurt 
or  unlawful  hostility  to  any  of  the  subjects  of  us,  our 
heirs  or  successors,  or  any  of  the  subjects  of  any  prince 
or  state,  being  then  in  league  with  us,  our  heirs  or 
successors,  upon  complaint  of  such  injury  done  to  any 
such  prince  or  state,  or  their  subjects,  we,  our  heirs  and 
successors,  will  make  open  proclamation  within  any 
parts  of  our  realm  of  England,  fit  for  that  purpose, 
that  the  person  or  persons  committing  any  such  rob 
bery  or  spoil  shall,  within  the  time  limited  by  such 
proclamation,  make  full  restitution  or  satisfaction  of  all 
such  injuries  done  or  committed,  so  as  the  said  prince, 
or  others  so  complaining,  may  be  fully  satisfied  and 
contented ;  and  if  the  said  person  or  persons  who  shall 
commit  any  such  robbery  or  spoil,  shall  not  make  sat 
isfaction,  accordingly,  within  such  time,  so  to  be  lim 
ited,  that  then  we,  our  heirs  and  successors,  will  put 
such  person  or  persons  out  of  our  allegiance  and  pro 
tection  ;  and  that  then  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  and 
free  for  all  princes  or  others  to  prosecute,  with  hostility, 
such  offenders,  and  every  of  them,  their  and  every  of 
their  procurers,  aiders,  abettors,  and  counsellors,  in 
that  behalf :  Provided,  also,  and  our  express  will  and 
pleasure  is,  and  we  do,  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  ordain  and  appoint,  that  these 
presents  shall  not,  in  any  manner,  hinder  any  of  our 
loving  subjects,  whatsoever,  from  using  and  exercising 
the  trade  of*  fishing  upon  the  coast  of  New  England,  in 
America;  but  that  they,  and  every  or  any  of  them, 
shall  have  full  and  free  power  and  liberty  to  continue 
and  use  the  trade  of  fishing  upon  the  said  coast,  in  any 
of  the  seas  thereunto  adjoining,  or  any  arms  of  the  seas, 
or  salt  water,  rivers  and  creeks,  where  they  have  been 


APPENDIX. 


accustomed  to  fish  ;  and  to  build  and  set  upon  the  waste 
land  belonging  to  the  said  colony  and  plantations,  such 
wharves,  stages,  and  work  houses,  as  shall  be  necessary 
for  the  salting,  drying,  and  keeping  of  their  fish,  to  be 
taken  or  gotten  upon  that  coast.  And  further,  for  the 
encouragement  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  said  colony  of 
Providence  Plantations  to  set  upon  the  business  of  tak 
ing  whales,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  them,  or  any  of  them, 
having  struck  whale,  dubertus,  or  other  great  fish,  it 
or  them  to  pursue  unto  any  part  of  that  coast,  and  into 
any  bay,  river,  cove,  creek,  or  shore,  belonging  thereto, 
and  it  or  them,  upon  the  said  coast,  or  in  the  said  bay, 
river,  cove,  creek,  or  shore,  belonging  thereto,  to  kill 
and  order  for  the  best  advantage,  without  molestation, 
they  making  no  wilful  waste  or  spoil;  any  thing  in 
these  presents  contained,  or  any  other  matter  or  thing, 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And  further  also,  we 
are  graciously  pleased,  and  do  hereby  declare,  that  if 
any  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  said  colony  do  set  upon 
the  planting  of  vineyards,  (the  soil  and  climate  both 
seeming  naturally  to  concur  to  the  production  of  wines,) 
or  be  industrious  in  the  discovery  of  fishing  banks,  in 
or  about  the  said  colony,  we  will,  from  time  to  time, 
give  and  allow  all  due  and  fitting  encouragement 
therein,  as  to  others  in  cases  of  like  nature.  And  fur 
ther,  of  our  more  ample  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and 
mere  motion,  we  have  given  and  granted,  and  by  these 
presents,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  do  give  and 
grant,  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company  of  the 
English  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plan 
tations,  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England,  in 
America,  and  to  every  inhabitant  there,  and  to  every 
person  and  persons  trading  thither,  and  to  every  such 
person  or  persons  as  are  or  shall  be  free  of  the  said  col 
ony,  full  power  and  authority,  from  time  to  time,  and  at 
all  times  hereafter,  to  take,  ship,  transport,  and  carry 
away,  out  of  any  of  our  realms  and  dominions,  for  and 


APPENDIX.  313 

towards  the  plantation  and  defence  of  the  said  colony, 
such  and  so  many  of  our  loving  subjects  and  strangers 
as  shall  or  will  willingly  accompany  them  in  and  to 
their  said  colony  and  plantation ;  except  such  person  or 
persons  as  are  or  shall  be  therein  restrained  by  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  or  any  law  or  statute  of  this  realm  ; 
and  also  to  ship  and  transport  all  and  all  manner  of 
goods,  chattels,  merchandises,  and  other  things  whatso 
ever,  that  are  or  shall  be  useful  or  necessary  for  the 
said  Plantations,  and  defence  thereof,  and  usually 
transported,  and  not  prohibited  by  any  law  or  statute 
of  this  our  realm  ;  yielding  and  paying  unto  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  such  the  duties,  customs,  and  subsi 
dies,  as  are  or  ought  to  be  paid  or  payable  for  the  same. 
And  further,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do,  for 
us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  ordain,  declare,  and  grant, 
unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company,  and  their  succes 
sors,  that  all  and  every  the  subjects  of  us,  our  heirs 
and  successors,  which  are  already  planted  and  settled 
within  our  said  colony  of  Providence  Plantations,  or 
which  shall  hereafter  go  to  inhabit  within  the  said  col 
ony,  and  all  and  every  of  their  children,  which  have 
been  born  there,  or  which  shall  happen  hereafter  to  be 
born  there,  or  on  the  sea,  going  thither,  or  returning 
from  thence,  shall  have  and  enjoy  all  liberties  and  im 
munities  of  free  and  natural  subjects  within  any  the 
dominions  of  us,  our  heirs  or  successors,  to  all  intents, 
constructions,  and  purposes,  whatsoever,  as  if  they,  and 
every  of  them,  were  born  within  the  realm  of  England. 
And  further,  know  ye,  that  we,  of  our  more  abundant 
grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion,  have  given, 
granted,  and  confirmed,  and,  by  these  presents,  for  us, 
our  heirs  and  successors,  do  give,  grant,  and  confirm, 
unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company,  and  their  suc 
cessors,  all  that  part  of  our  dominions  in  New  England, 
in  America,  containing  the  Nahantick  and  Nanhyganset, 
alias  Narragansett  Bay,  and  countries  and  parts  adjacent, 
27 


S14  APPENDIX. 

bounded  on  the  west,  or  westerly,  to  the  middle  or  chan 
nel  of  a  river  there,  commonly  called  and  known  by  the 
name  of  Pawcatuck,  alias  Pawcawtuck  River,  and  so 
along  the  said  river,  as  the  greater  or  middle  stream 
thereof  reacheth  or  lies  up  into  the  north  country,  north 
ward,  unto  the  head  thereof,  and  from  thence,  by  a 
straight  line  drawn  due  north,  until  it  meets  with  the 
south  line  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  ;  and  on  the 
north,  or  northerly,  by  the  aforesaid  south  or  southerly 
line  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  or  plantation,  and  ex 
tending  towards  the  east,  or  eastwardly,  three  English 
miles  to  the  east  and  north-east  of  the  most  eastern  and 
north-eastern  parts  of  the  aforesaid  Narragansett  Bay,  as 
the  said  bay  lieth  or  extendeth  itself  from  the  ocean  on 
the  south,  or  southwardly,  unto  the  mouth  of  the  river 
which  runneth  toward  the  town  of  Providence,  and  from 
thence  along  the  eastwardly  side  or  bank  of  the  said 
river  (higher  called  by  the  name  of  Seacunck  River)  up 
to  the  falls  called  Patuckett  Falls,  being  the  most  west- 
wardly  line  of  Plymouth  colony,  and  so  from  the  said 
falls  in  a  straight  line,  due  north,  until  it  meet  with  the 
aforesaid  line  of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  and  bounded 
on  the  south  by  the  ocean ;  and,  in  particular,  the  lands 
belonging  to  the  towns  of  Providence,  Pawtuxet, 
Warwick,  Misquammacock,  alias  Pawcatuck,  and  the 
rest  upon  the  main  land  in  the  tract  aforesaid,  together 
with  Rhode  Island,  Block  Island,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
islands  and  banks  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  and  bor 
dering  upon  the  coast  of  the  tract  aforesaid,  (Fisher's 
Island  only  excepted,)  together  with  all  firm  lands,  soils, 
grounds,  havens,  ports,  rivers,  waters,  fishings,  mines 
royal,  and  all  other  mines,  minerals,  precious  .stones, 
quarries,  woods,  wood  grounds,  rocks,  slates,  and  all 
and  singular  other  commodities,  jurisdictions,  royalties, 
privileges,  franchises,  preeminences,  and  hereditaments 
whatsoever,  within  the  said  tract,  bounds,  lands,  and 
islands  aforesaid,  or  to  them  or  any  of  them  belonging, 


APPENDIX.  315 

or  in  any  wise  appertaining :  To  have  and  to  hold  the 
same  unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company  and  their 
successors  forever,  upon  trust,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of 
themselves  and  their  associates,  freemen  of  the  said  col 
ony,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  to  be  holden  of  us,  our 
heirs  and  successors,  as  of  the  manor  of  East  Greenwich, 
in  our  county  of  Kent,  in  free  and  common  soccage,  and 
not  in  capite,  nor  by  knight  service  ;  yielding  and  pay 
ing  therefor  to  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  only  the 
fifth  part  of  all  the  ore  of  gold  and  silver  which,  from 
time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  shall  be  there 
gotten,  had,  or  obtained,  in  lieu  and  satisfaction  of  all 
services,  duties,  fines,  forfeitures,  made  or  to  be  made, 
claims  and  demands  whatsoever,  to  be  to  us,  our  heirs 
or  successors,  therefor  or  thereout  rendered,  made,  or 
paid  j  any  grant,  or  clause  in  a  late  grant,  to  the  Gov 
ernor  and  Company  of  Connecticut  Colony,  in  America, 
to  the  contrary  thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 
The  aforesaid  Pawcatuck  River  having  been  yielded, 
after  much  debate,  for  the  fixed  and  certain  bounds 
between  these  our  said  colonies,  by  the  agents  thereof, 
who  have  also  agreed  that  the  said  Pawcatuck  River 
shall  be  also  called  alias  Norrogansett  or  Narrogansett 
River  ;  and,  to  prevent  future  disputes,  that  otherwise 
might  arise  thereby,  forever  hereafter  shall  be  construed, 
deemed,  and  taken  to  be  the  Narrogansett  River  in  our 
late  grant  to  Connecticut  colony  mentioned  as  the  east 
erly  bounds  of  that  colony.  And  further,  our  will  and 
pleasure  is,  that,  in  all  matters  of  public  controversy, 
which  may  fall  out  between  our  colony  of  Providence 
Plantations  and  the  rest  of  our  colonies  in  New  England, 
it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  to  and  for  the  Governor  and 
Company  of  the  said  colony  of  Providence  Plantations, 
to  make  their  appeals  therein  to  us,  our  heirs  and  suc 
cessors,  for  redress  in  such  cases,  within  this  our  realm 
of  England ;  and  that  it  shall  be  lawful  to  and  for  the 
inhabitants  of  the  said  colony  of  Providence  Plantations, 


316  APPENDIX. 

without  let  or  molestation,  to  pass  and  repass,  with  free 
dom,  into  and  through  the  rest  of  the  English  colonies, 
upon  their  lawful  and  civil  occasions,  and  to  converse 
and  hold  commerce  and  trade  with  such  of  the  inhabit 
ants  of  our  other  English  colonies  as  shall  be  willing  to 
admit  them  thereunto,  they  behaving  themselves  peace 
ably  among  them ;  any  act,  clause,  or  sentence,  in  any 
of  the  said  colonies  provided,  or  that  shall  be  provided, 
to  the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstanding.  And  lastly, 
we  do  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  ordain  and  grant 
unto  the  said  Governor  and  Company,  and  their  succes 
sors,  by  these  presents,  that  these  our  letters  patent  shall 
be  firm,  good,  effectual,  and  available  in  all  things  in 
the  law,  to  all  intents,  constructions,  and  purposes  what 
soever,  according  to  our  true  intent  and  meaning  here 
inbefore  declared  ;  and  shall  be  construed,  reputed,  and 
adjudged  in  all  cases  most  favorably  on  the  behalf,  and 
for  the  best  benefit  and  behoof,  of  the  said  Governor 
and  Company,  and  their  successors ;  although  express 
mention  of  the  true  yearly  value  or  certainty  of  the 
premises,  or  any  of  them,  or  of  any  other  gifts  or  grants 
by  us,  or  by  any  of  our  progenitors  or  predecessors, 
heretofore  made  to  the  said  Governor  and  Company  of 
the  English  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  New  England,  in 
America,  in  these  presents  is  not  made,  or  any  statute, 
act,  ordinance,  provision,  proclamation,  or  restriction, 
heretofore  had,  made,  enacted,  ordained,  or  provided, 
or  any  other  matter,  cause,  or  thing  whatsoever,  to  the 
contrary  thereof  in  any  wise  notwithstanding.  In  wit 
ness  whereof,  we  have  caused  these  our  letters  to  be 
made  patent.  Witness  ourself  at  Westminster,  the 
eighth  day  of  July,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  our  reign. 
By  the  King : 

HOWARD. 


APPENDIX.  317 

CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    STATE    OF    RHODE 
ISLAND  AND  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS, 

ADOPTED  BY  THE  PEOPLE,  DEC.  27,  28,  &  29,  1841. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for 
his  blessing  vouchsafed  to  the  "  lively  experiment "  of 
religious  and  political  freedom  here  "  held  forth "  by 
our  venerated  ancestors,  and  earnestly  imploring  the 
favor  of  his  gracious  providence  towards  this  our 
attempt  to  secure  upon  a  permanent  foundation  the 
advantages  of  well-ordered  and  rational  liberty,  and  to 
enlarge  and  transmit  to  our  successors  the  inheritance 
that  we  have  received,  do  ordain  and  establish  the  fol 
lowing  constitution  of  government  for  this  state. 

ART.  I.  —  DECLARATION*  OF  PRINCIPLES  AND  RIGHTS. 

1.  In  the  spirit  and  in  the  words  of  Roger  Williams, 
the  illustrious  founder  of  this  state,  and  of  his  venerated 
associates,  we  declare  "  that  this  government  shall  be  a 
democracy,"  or  government  of  the  people,  "  by  the 
major  consent "  of  the  same,  "  only  in  civil  things." 
The  will  of  the  people  shall  be  expressed  by  represen 
tatives  freely  chosen,  and  returning  at  fixed  periods  to 
their  constituents.  This  state  shall  be,  and  forever 
remain,  as  in  the  design  of  its  founder,  sacred  to  "  soul 
liberty,"  to  the  rights  of  conscience,  to  freedom  of 
thought,  of  expression,  and  of  action,  as  hereinafter  set 
forth  and  secured. 

£.  All  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  natur^,  inherent, 
and  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty, 
the  acquisition  of  property,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness.  Government  cannot  create  or  bestow  these  rights, 
27* 


318  APPENDIX. 

which,  are  the  gift  of  God  ;  but  it  is  instituted  for  the 
stronger  and  surer  defence  of  the  same,  that  men  may 
safely  enjoy  the  rights  of  life  and  liberty,  securely  pos 
sess  and  transmit  property,  and,  so  far  as  laws  avail, 
may  be  successful  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

3.  All  political  power  and  sovereignty  are  originally 
vested  in,  and  of  right  belong  to,  the  people.     All  free 
governments  are   founded   in  their  authority,  and    are 
established  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  whole  number. 
The  people  have,  therefore,  an  unalienable  and  indefea 
sible  right,  in  their  original,  sovereign,  and  unlimited 
capacity,  to  ordain  and  institute  government,  and  in  the 
same  capacity  to  alter,  reform,    or  totally  change    the 
same,  whenever  their  safety  or  happiness  requires. 

4.  No  favor  or  disfavor  ought  to  be  shown,  in  legis 
lation,  toward  any  man,  or  party,  or  society,  or  religious 
denomination.     The  laws  should  be  made  not  for  the 
good  of  the  few,  but  of  the  many ;  and  the  burdens  of 
the  state  ought  to  be  fairly  distributed  among  its  citizens. 

5.  The  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge,  and  the  culti 
vation  of  a  sound  morality  in  the  fear  of  God,  being  of 
the  first  importance  in  a  republican  state,  and  indispen 
sable  to  the  maintenance  of  its  liberty,  it  shall  be  an 
imperative  duty  of  the  legislature  to  promote  the  estab 
lishment  of  free  schools,  and  to  assist  in  the  support  of 
public  education. 

6.  Every  person  in  this  state  ought  to  find  a  certain 
remedy,  by  having  recourse  to  the  laws,  for  all  injuries 
or  wrongs  which  may  be  done  to  his  rights  of  person, 
property,  or  character.     He  ought  to  obtain  right  and 
justice    freely    and    without    purchase,  completely  and 
without  denial,  promptly  and  without  delay,  conforma 
bly  to  the  laws. 

7.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  per 
sons,  houses,  papers,  and  possessions,  against  unreason 
able  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated  ;  and 
no  warrant  shall  issue  but  on  complaint  in  writing  upon 


APPENDIX*  319 

probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and 
describing  as  nearly  as  may  be  the  place  to  be  searched, 
and  the  person  or  things  to  be  seized. 

8.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  to  a  capital 
or  other  infamous  charge,  unless  on  indictment  by  a 
grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval 
forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  service,  in  time 
of  war  or  public  danger.  No  person  shall  be  tried, 
after  an  acquittal,  for  the  same  crime  or  offence. 

"9.  Every  man  being  presumed  to  be  innocent  until 
pronounced  guilty  by  the  law,  all  acts  of  severity,  that 
are  not  necessary  to  secure  an  accused  person,  ought  to 
be  repressed. 

10.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  exces 
sive  fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  or  unusual  punishments 
inflicted  ;  and  all  punishments  ought  to  be  proportioned 
to  the  offence. 

11.  All   prisoners    shall   be  bailable  upon  sufficient 
surety,  unless   for  capital  offences,  when  the  proof   is 
evident  or  the  presumption  great.     The  privilege  of  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless 
when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety 
shall  require  it. 

12.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the    accused   shall 
have  the  privilege  of  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an 
impartial  jury;  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of 
the  accusation ;  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against 
him;  have  compulsory  process  to  obtain  them  in    his 
favor,  arrel  at  the  public  expense,  when  necessary ;  have 
the  assistance  of  counsel  in  his  defence,  and  be  at  liberty 
to  speak  for  himself.     Nor  shall  he  be  deprived  of  his 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  unless  by  the  judgment  of  his 
peers,  or  the  law  of  the  land. 

13.  The  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  remain  inviolate, 
and  in  all  criminal  cases  the  jury  shall  judge  both  of 
the  law  and  of  the  facts. 

14.  Any  person  in  this  state,  who  may  be  claimed  to 


320  AFFENflIX, 

be  held  to  labor  or  service,  under  the  laws  of  any  other 
state,  territory,  or  district,  shall  be  entitled  to  a  jury 
trial,  to  ascertain  the  validity  of  such  claim. 

15.  No   man   is   a  court  of  common   law  shall  be 
required  to-  criminate  himself. 

16.  Retrospective  laws,  civil  and  criminal,  are  unjust 
and  oppressive,  and  shall  not  be  made. 

17.  The  people  have  a  right  to  assemble  in  a  peacea 
ble  manner,  without  molestation  or  restraint,  to  consult 
upon  the  public  welfare ;  a  right  to  give  instructions  to 
their  senators  and  representatives  ;  and  a  right  to  apply 
to  those  invested  with  the  powers  of  government  for 
redress  of  grievances,  for  the  repeal  of  injurious  laws, 
for  the  correction  of  faults  of  administration,  and  for  all 
other  purposes. 

18.  The  liberty  of  the  press  being  essential  to  the 
security  of  freedom  in  a  state,  any  citizen  may  publish 
his  sentiments  on  any  subject,  being  responsible  for  the 
abuse  of  that  liberty  ;  and  in  all  trials  for  libel,  both 
civil  and  criminal,  the  truth,  spoken  from  good  motives, 
and  for  justifiable  ends,  shall  be  a  sufficient  defence  to 
the  person  charged. 

19.  Private  property  shall   not  be  taken  for  public 
uses  without  just  compensation,  nor  unless  the  public 
good  require  it ;  nor  under  any  circumstances  until  com 
pensation  shall  have  been  made,  if  required. 

20.  The  military  shall  always  be  held  in  strict  sub 
ordination  to  the  civil  authority. 

21.  No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered 
in  any  house,  without  the  consent  of  the  owner  ;  nor  in 
time  of  war,  but  in  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

22.  Whereas  Almighty  God  hath  created  the  mind 
free,  and  all  attempts  to  influence  it  by  temporal  pun 
ishments,  or  burdens,  or  by  civil  incapacitations,  tend  to 
beget  habits  of  hypocrisy  and  meanness ;  and  whereas 
a  principal  object  of  our  venerated  ancestors  in  their 
migration  to  this  country,  and  their  settlement  of  this 


APPENDIX.  321 

state,  was,  as  they  expressed  it,  to  hold  forth  a  lively 
experiment,  that  a  flourishing  civil  state  may  stand,  and 
be  best  maintained,  with  full  liberty  in  religious  con 
cernments  :  We  therefore  declare  that  no  man  shall  be 
compelled  to  frequent  or  support  any  religious  wor 
ship,  place,  or  ministry  whatsoever,  nor  be  enforced, 
restrained,  molested,  or  burdened  in  his  body  or  goods, 
nor  disqualified  from  holding  any  office,  nor  otherwise 
suffer,  on  account  of  his  religious  belief;  and  that  all 
men  shall  be  free  to  profess,  and  by  argument  to  main 
tain,  their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion  >  and  that  the 
same  shall  in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  their 
civil  capacities  ;  and  that  all  other  religious  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  people  of  this  state,  as  now  enjoyed, 
shall  remain  inviolate  and  inviolable. 

23.  No  witness  shall  be  called  in  question  before  the 
legislature,  nor  in  any  court  of  this   state,  nor   before 
any  magistrate  or  other  person  authorized  to  administer 
an  oath  or  affirmation,  for  his  or  her  religious   belief,  or 
opinions,  or  any  part  thereof;   and   no   objection  to  a 
witness,  on  the  ground  of  his  or  her  religious  opinions, 
shall  be  entertained  or  received. 

24.  The  citizens  shall  continue  to  enjoy,  and  freely 
exercise,  all  the  rights  of  fishery,  and  privileges  of  the 
shore,  to  which  they  have  been  heretofore  entitled  under 
the  charter  and  usages  of  this  state. 

25.  The  enumeration  of  the   foregoing  rights  shall 
not  be  construed  to  impair  nor  deny  others  retained  by 
the  people. 

ART.  II.  —  OF  ELECTORS  AND  THE  EIGHT  or  SUFFRAGE. 

1.  Every  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  of 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  resided  in  this 
state  for  one  year,  and  in  any  town,  city,  or  district  of 
the  same  for  six  months,  next  preceding  the  election  at 
which  he  offers  to  vote,  shall  be  an  elector  of  all  officers 


APPENDIX. 

who  are  elected,  or  may  hereafter  be  made  eligible,  by 
the  people.  But  persons  in  the  military,  naval,  or 
marine  service  of  the  United  States,  shall  not  be  con 
sidered  as  having  such  established  residence,  by  being 
stationed  in  any  garrison,  barrack,  or  military  place  in 
any  town  or  city  in  this  state. 

2.  Paupers  and  persons  under  guardianship,  insane, 
or  lunatic,  are  excluded  from  the  electoral  right ;  and 
the  same   shall   be   forfeited  on  conviction  of  bribery, 
forgery,  perjury,  theft,   or   other  infamous  crime,  and 
shall  not  be  restored  unless  by  an  act  of  the  General 
Assembly. 

3.  No  person  who  is  excluded  from  voting,  for  want 
of  the  qualification  first  named  in  section  first  of  this 
article,  shall  be  taxed,  or  be  liable  to  do  military  duty ; 
provided  that  nothing  in  said  first  article  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  exempt  from   taxation  any  property  or 
persons  now  liable  to  be  taxed. 

4.  No  elector  who  is  not  possessed  of,  and  assessed 
for,  ratable  property  in  his  own  right,  to  the  amount  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  or  who  shall  have  neg 
lected  or  refused  to  pay  any  tax  assessed  upon  him,  in 
any  town,  city,  or  district,  for  one  year  preceding  the 
town,  city,  ward,  or  district  meeting  at  which  he  shall 
offer  to  vote,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  on  any  question 
of  taxation,  or  the  expenditure  of  any  public  moneys  in 
such  town,  city,  or  district,  until  the  same  be  paid. 

5.  In  the   city  of   Providence,  and  other  cities,  no 
person  shall  be  eligible  to  the  office  of  mayor,  alderman, 
or  common  councilman,  who  is  not  taxed,  or  who  shall 
have  neglected  or  refused  to  pay  his  tax,  as  provided  in 
the  preceding  section. 

6.  The  voting  for  all  officers  chosen  by  the  people, 
except  town  or  city  officers,  shall  be  by  ballot ;  that  is 
to  say,  by  depositing  a  written  or  printed  ticket  in  the 
ballot  box,   without   the    name    of    the    voter   written 
thereon.     Town  or  city  officers  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot, 


APPENDIX. 

on  the  demand  of  any  two  persons  entitled  to  vote  for 
the  same. 

7.  There  shall  be  a  strict  registration  of  all  qualified 
voters  in  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  state ;  and  no  per 
son  shall  be   permitted  to  vote,  whose  name  has  not 
been  entered  upon  the  list  of  voters  before  the  polls  are 
opened. 

8.  The  General  Assembly  shall  pass   all  necessary 
laws  for  the  prevention  of  fraudulent  voting  by  persons 
not  having  an  actual,  permanent  residence,  or  home,  in 
the  state,  or  otherwise  disqualified  according  to  this  con 
stitution  ;  for  the  careful  registration  of  all  voters,  pre 
viously  to   the   time   of  voting  ;  for  the  prevention  of 
frauds  upon  the  ballot  box ;  for  the  preservation  of  the 
purity  of  elections  ;  and  for  the  safe-keeping  and  accu 
rate  counting  of  the  votes ;  to  the  end  that  the  will  of 
the  people  may  be  freely  and  fully  expressed,  truly  as 
certained,  and  effectually  exerted,  without  intimidation, 
suppression,  or  unnecessary  delay. 

9.  The  electors  shall  be  exempted  from  arrest  on  days 
of  election,  and  one  day  before,  and  one  day  after  the 
same,  except  in  cases  of  treason,  felony,  or  breach  of 
the  peace. 

10.  No  person  shall  be  eligible  to  any  office  by  the 
votes  of  the  people,  who  does  not  possess  the  qualifica 
tions  of  an  elector. 


ART.  III.  —  OF  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS. 

1.  The  powers  of  the  government  shall  be  distributed 
into  three  departments  —  the   legislative,  the  executive, 
and  the  judicial. 

2.  No  person  or  persons  connected  with  one  of  these 
departments  shall  exercise  any  of  the  powers  belonging 
to  either  of  the  others,  except  in  cases  herein  directed 
or  permitted. 


APPENDIX. 


ART.  IV.  —  OF  THE  "LEGISLATIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

1.  The  legislative  power  shall  be  vested  in  two  dis 
tinct  Houses  :  the  one  to  be  called  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  the  other  the  Senate,  and  both  together  the 
General  Assembly.     The   concurrent  votes  of  the  two 
Houses  shall  be   necessary  to  the  enactment  of  laws  ; 
and  the  style  of  their  laws  shall  be  :  "  Be  it  enacted  by 
the  General  Assembly,  as  follows." 

2.  No  member  of  the  General   Assembly  shall   be 
eligible   to  any  civil   office  under  the  authority  of  the 
state,  during   the   term  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected. 

3.  If  any  representative,  or  senator,  in  the  General 
Assembly  of  this  state,  shall  be  appointed  to  any  office 
under  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  shall 
accept  the  same,  after  his  election  as  such  senator  or 
representative,  his  seat  shall  thereby  become  vacant. 

4.  Any  person  who  holds  an  office  under  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  may  be  elected  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly,  and  may  hold  his  seat  therein, 
if,  at  the  time  of  his  taking   his   seat,  he  shall  have  re 
signed  said  office,  and  shall  declare  the  same  on  oath,  or 
affirmation,  if  required. 

5.  No  member  of  the  General  Assembly  shall  take 
any  fees,  be   of  counsel  or  act  as  advocate  in  any  case 
pending  before  either  branch  of  the  General  Assembly, 
under   penalty   of  forfeiting   his  seat,   upon  due   proof 
thereof. 

6.  Each  House  shall  judge  of  the  election  and  quali 
fications   of  its   members  ;    and   a   majority  of   all  the 
members  of  each  House,  whom  the  towns  and  senato 
rial  districts    are  entitled   to   elect,    shall   constitute  a 
quorum  to  do  business  ;  but  a  smaller  number  may  ad 
journ  from  day  to  day,  and  may  compel  the  attendance 
of  absent   members,  in  such  manner,  and  under  such 
penalties,   as   each   House   may   have   previously   pre 
scribed. 


APPENDIX.  325 

7.  Each  House  may  determine  the  rules  of  its    pro 
ceedings,  punish  its   members   for  disorderly  behavior, 
and,  with   the   concurrence  of  two  thirds  of  the   mem 
bers  elected,  expel  a  member ;  but   not   a   second  time 
for  the  same  cause. 

8.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceed 
ings,  and  publish  the  same  when  required  by  one  fifth 
of  its  members.     The  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of 
either  House  shall,  at  the  desire   of  any  five  members 
present,  be  entered  on  the  journal. 

9.  Neither  House  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the 
other,  adjourn  for  more  than  two  days,  nor  to  any  other 
place  than  that  at  which  the  General  Assembly  is  hold 
ing  its  session. 

10.  The   senators   and  representatives   shall,    in   all 
cases  of  civil  process,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during 
the  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  for  two  days 
before  the  commencement,  and  two  days  after  the  ter 
mination,    of  any  session  thereof.     For  any  speech   in 
debate  in  either  House,  no  member  shall  be  called  in 
question  in  any  other  place. 

11.  The  civil  and  military  officers,  heretofore  elected 
in  grand  committee,  shall  hereafter  be  elected  annually 
by  the   General    Assembly,   in   joint    committee,   com 
posed  of  the  two  Houses  of  the  General  Assembly,  ex 
cepting  as  is  otherwise  provided   in   this  constitution  ; 
and  excepting  the  captains  and  subalterns  of  the  militia, 
who  shall  be  elected  by  the  ballots  of  the  members  com 
posing  their  respective  companies,  in   such  manner  as 
the  General  Assembly  may  prescribe  ;  and  such  officers, 
so  elected,  shall  be  approved  of  and  commissioned  by 
the  governor,  who  shall  determine  their  rank ;  and,  if 
said  companies   shall  neglect  or  refuse  to  make  such 
elections,  after  being  duly  notified,  then   the  governor 
shall  appoint  suitable  persons  to  fill  such  offices. 

12.  Every  bill   and   every  resolution    requiring   the 
concurrence  of  the  two  Houses,  (votes  of  adjournment 

28 


326  APPENDIX. 

excepted,)  which  shall  have  passed  both  Houses  of  the 
General  Assembly,  shall  be  presented  to  the  governor 
for  his  revision.  If  he  approve  of  it,  he  shall  sign  and 
transmit  the  same  to  the  secretary  of  state  ;  but  if  not, 
he  shall  return  it  to  the  House  in  which  it  shall  have 
originated,  with  his  objections  thereto,  which  shall  be 
entered  at  large  on  their  journal.  The  House  shall 
then  proceed  to  reconsider  the  bill ;  and  if,  after  such 
reconsideration,  that  House  shall  pass  it  by  a  majority 
of  all  the  members  elected,  it  shall  be  sent,  with  the  ob 
jections,  to  the  other  House,  which  shall  also  reconsider 
it ;  and,  if  approved  by  that  House,  by  a  majority  of  all 
the  members  elected,  it  shall  become  a  law.  If  the  bill 
shall  not  be  returned  by  the  governor  within  forty- 
eight  hours  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have  been 
presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  become  a  law,  in  like 
manner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  General  As 
sembly,  by  their  adjournment,  prevent  its  return;  in 
which  case,  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

13.  There  shall  be  two  sessions  of  the  General  As 
sembly  in  every  year ;  one  session  to  be  held  at  New 
port,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  June,  for  the  organization 
of  the  government,  the  election  of  officers,  and  for 
other  business  ;  and  one  other  session  on  the  first  Tues 
day  of  January,  to  be  held  at  Providence,  in  the  first 
year  after  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  and  in  every 
second  year  thereafter.  In  the  intermediate  years,  the 
January  session  shall  be  forever  hereafter  held  in  the 
counties  of  Washington,  Kent,  or  Bristol,  as  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  may  determine  before  their  adjournment 
in  June. 

ART.  V.  —  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  consist  of 
members  chosen  by  the  electors  in  the  several  towns 
and  cities,  in  their  respective  town  and  ward  meetings, 
annually. 


APPENDIX.  327 

£.  The  towns  and  cities  shall  severally  be  entitled  to 
elect  members  according  to  the  apportionment  which 
follows,  viz.  :  Newport  to  elect  five  ;  Warwick,  four ; 
Smithfield,  five ;  Cumberland,  North  Providence,  and 
Scituate,  three  ;  Portsmouth,  Westerly,  New  Shoreham, 
North  Kingstown,  South  Kingstown,  East  Greenwich, 
Glocester,  West  Greenwich,  Coventry,  Exeter,  Bristol, 
Tiverton,  Little  Compton,  Warren,  Richmond,  Crans 
ton,  Charlestown,  Hopkinton,  Johnston,  Foster,  and 
Burrillville,  to  elect  two  ;  and  Jamestown,  Middletown, 
and  Barrington,  to  elect  one. 

3.  In  the  city  of  Providence,  there  shall  be  six  rep 
resentative   districts,  which   shall  be  the  six  wards  of 
said  city  ;  and  the  electors  resident  in  said  districts,  for 
the  term  of  three  months  next  preceding  the  election  at 
which  they  offer  to  vote,  shall  be  entitled  to  elect  two 
representatives  for  each  district. 

4.  The  General  Assembly,  in  case  of  great  inequal 
ity  in  the  population  of  the  wards  of  the  city  of  Provi 
dence,  may  cause  the  boundaries  of  the  six  representative 
districts  therein  to  be  so  altered  as  to  include  in  each 
district,  as  •  nearly  as  may  be,  an  equal  number  of  in 
habitants. 

5.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  have  authority 
to  elect  their  own  speaker,  clerks,  and  other  officers.    The 
oath  of  office  shall  be  administered  to  the  speaker  by 
the  secretary  of  state,  or,  in   his  absence,  by  the  attor 
ney  general. 

6.  Whenever  the  seat  of  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  shall  be  vacated  by  death,  resignation, 
or  otherwise,  the  vacancy  may  be  filled  by  a  new  elec 
tion. 

ART.  VI. — OF  THE  SENATE. 

1.  The  state  shall  be  divided  into  twelve  senatorial 
districts  ;  and  each  district  shall  be  entitled  to  one  sen 
ator,  who  shall  be  annually  chosen  by  the  electors  in  his 
district. 


328  APPENDIX. 

£.  The  first,  second,  and  third  representative  districts 
in  the  city  of  Providence,  shall  constitute  the  first  sena 
torial  district ;  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  representative 
districts  in  said  city,  the  second  district ;  the  town  of 
Smithfield,  the  third  district ;  the  towns  of  North  Prov 
idence  and  Cumberland,  the  fourth  district ;  the  towns 
of  Scituate,  Glocester,  Burrillville,  and  Johnston,  the 
fifth  district;  the  towns  of  Warwick  and  Cranston,  the 
sixth  district;  the  towns  of  East  Greenwich,  West 
Greenwich,  Coventry,  and  Foster,  the  seventh  district ; 
the  towns  of  Newport,  Jamestown,  and  New  Shore- 
ham,  the  eighth  district ;  the  towns  of  Portsmouth, 
Middletown,  Tiverton,  and  Little  Compton,  the  ninth 
district;  the  towns  of  North  Kingstown  and  South 
Kingstown,  the  tenth  district ;  the  towns  of  Westerly, 
Charlestown,  Exeter,  Richmond,  and  Hopkinton,  the 
eleventh  district ;  the  towns  of  Bristol,  Warren,  and 
Barrington,  the  twelfth  district. 

3.  The  lieutenant  governor  shall  be,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  president  of  the  Senate  ;  and  shall  have  a  right, 
in  case  of  an  equal  division,  to  vote  in  the  same ;  and 
also  to  vote  in  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses. 

4.  When  the  government   shall  be   administered  by 
the  lieutenant  governor,  or  he  shall  be  unable  to  attend 
as  president  of  the  Senate,  the  Senate  shall  elect  one  of 
their  own  members  president  of  the  same. 

5.  Vacancies  in  the  Senate,  occasioned  by  death,  res 
ignation,  or  otherwise,  may  be  filled  by  a  new  election. 

6.  The  secretary  of  state   shall  be,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  secretary  of  the  Senate. 

ART.  VII. — OF  IMPEACHMENTS. 

1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  have  the  sole 
power  of  impeachment. 

£.  All  impeachments  shall  be  tried  by  the  Senate ; 
and  when  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath 


APPENDIX,  329 

or  affirmation.  No  person  shall  be  convicted,  except 
by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  elected.  When 
the  governor  is  impeached,  the  chief  justice  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  shall  preside,  w,ith  a  casting  vote  in  all 
preliminary  questions. 

3.  The  governor,  and  all  other  executive  and  judicial 
officers,  shall  be  liable  to  impeachment ;  but  judgment, 
in  such  cases,  shall  not  extend  further  than  to  removal 
from  office.  The  party  convicted  shall,  nevertheless,  be 
liable  to  indictment,  trial,  and  punishment,  according  to 
law. 


ART.  VIII. — ON  THE  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

1.  The  chief  executive  power  of  this  state  shall  be 
vested  in  a  governor,  who  shall  be  chosen  by  the  elec 
tors,  and  shall  hold  his  office  for  one  year,  and  until  his 
successor  be  duly  qualified. 

2.  No  person   holding  any  office  or  place  under  the 
United  States,  this  state,  any  other  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  foreign  power,  shall  exercise  the  office  of  gov 
ernor. 

3.  He  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  ex 
ecuted. 

4.  He  shall  be   commander -in-chief  of  the  military 
and  naval  forces  of  the   state,  except  when  called  into 
the  actual   service   of  the  United  States ;  but  he  shall 
not  march  nor   convey  any  of  the   citizens  out  of  the 
state,  without  their  consent,  or  that  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  unless  it    shall  become    necessary  in  order  to 
march  or  transport  them  from   one  part  of  the  state  to 
another,  for  the  defence  thereof. 

5.  He   shall   appoint   all   civil   and   military  officers 
whose  appointment  is  not  by  this  constitution,  or  shall 
not  by  law  be  otherwise  provided  for. 

6.  He  shall,  from  time  to  time,  inform  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  condition  of  the  state,  and  recommend 

28* 


SSO  APPENDIX. 

to  their  consideration   such  measures  as  he  may  deem 
expedient. 

7.  He  may  require  from  any  military  officer,  or  any 
officer  in   the  executive  department,  information  upon 
any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  his  office. 

8.  He  shall  have  power  to  remit  forfeitures  and  pen 
alties,  and  to  grant  reprieves,  commutation  of  punish 
ments,  and  pardons  after  conviction,  except  in  cases  of 
impeachment. 

9.  The  governor  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his 
services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be  increased  nor 
diminished  during  his  continuance  in  office. 

10.  There  shall  be  elected,  in  the  same  manner  as  is 
provided  for  the  election  of  governor,  a  lieutenant  gov 
ernor,  who  shall  C9ntinue  in  office  for  the  same  term  of 
time.     Whenever  the  office  of  governor  shall  become 
vacant  by  death,  resignation,  removal;  from  office,  or 
otherwise,  the   lieutenant    governor   shall  exercise  the 
office  of  governor  until  another  governor  shall  be  duly 
qualified. 

11.  Whenever  the  offices  of  governor  and  lieutenant 
governor  shall  both  become  vacant,  by  death,  resigna 
tion,  removal  from  office,  or  otherwise,  the  president  of 
the  Senate  shall  exercise  the  office  of  governor  until  a 
governor  be  duly  qualified  ;  and  should  such  vacancies  oc 
cur  during  a  recess  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  there  be 
no  president  of  the  Senate,  the  secretary  of  state  shall, 
by  proclamation,  convene  the  Senate,  that  a  president 
may  be  chosen  to  exercise  the  office  of  governor. 

12.  Whenever  the  lieutenant  governor  or  president 
of  the  Senate  shall  exercise  the  office  of  governor,  he 
shall  receive  the  compensation  of  governor  only  ;  and 
his  duties  as  president  of  the  Senate  shall  cease  while 
he   shall  continue   to  act  as  governor;  and  the  Senate 
shall  fill,  the  vacancy  by  an  election  from  their  own 
body. 

13.  In   case   of   a   disagreement  between  the  two 


APPENDIX.  S3 1 

Houses  of  the  General  Assembly  respecting  the  time  or 
place  of  adjournment,  the  person  exercising  the  office  of 
governor  may  adjourn  them  to  such  time  or  place  as  he 
shall  think  proper ;  provided  that  the  time  of  adjourn 
ment  shall  not  be  extended  beyond  the  first  day  of  the 
next  stated  session. 

14.  The  person  exercising  the  office  of  governor  may,  in 
cases  of  special  necessity,  convene  the  General  Assem 
bly  at  any  town  or  city  in  this  state  at  any  other  time 
than  hereinbefore  provided.     And,  in  case  of  danger 
from  the  prevalence  of  epidemic  or  contagious  diseases, 
or  from  other  circumstances,  in  the  place  in  which  the 
General  Assembly  are  next  to  meet,  he  inay,  by  procla 
mation,  convene  the  Assembly  at  any  other  place  within, 
the  state. 

15.  A   secretary  of  state,  a  general  treasurer,   and 
an  attorney  general,  shall  also  be  chosen  annually,  in 
the  same  manner,  and  for  the  same  time,  as  is  herein 
provided  respecting  the  governor.     The  duties  of  these 
officers  shall  be  the  same  as  are  now,  or  may  hereafter 
be,  prescribed  by  law.     Should  there  be  a  failure   to 
choose   either  of  them,  or  should  a  vacancy  occur  in 
either  of  their  offices,  the  General  Assembly  shall  fill 
the  place  by  an  election  in  joint  committee. 

16.  The  electors  in  each  county  shall,  at  the  annual 
elections,   vote  for  an  inhabitant  of  the   county  to  be 
sheriff  of  said  county  for  one   year,  and  until  a  succes 
sor  be  duly  qualified.     In  case  no  person  shall  have  a 
majority  of  the  electoral  votes  of  his  county  for  sheriff, 
the  General  Assembly,  in  joint  committee,  shall  elect  a 
sheriff  from  the   two   candidates   who    shall    have  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  in  such  county. 

17.  All  commissions   shall  be  in  the  name    of  the 
State    of   Rhode   Island    and    Providence    Plantations, 
sealed  with  the  seal  of  the   state,  and  attested  by  the 
secretary. 


APPENDIX. 


ART.  IX.  —  GENERAL  PROVISIONS. 

1.  This  constitution  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
state  ;  and  all  laws  contrary  to  or  inconsistent  with  the 
same,  which  may  be  passed  by  the  General  Assembly, 
shall  be  null  and  void. 

£.  The  General  Assembly  shall  pass  all  necessary 
laws  for  carrying  this  constitution  into  effect. 

3.  The  judges  of  all  the  courts,  and  all  other  officers, 
both  civil  and  military,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirma 
tion  to  the  due  observance    of  this  constitution,  and  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

4.  No  jurisdiction  shall,  hereafter,  be  entertained  by 
the  General  Assembly  in  cases  of  insolvency,  divorce, 
sale  of  real  estate    of  minors,  or   appeal  from  judicial 
decisions,  nor  in   any  other  matters  appertaining  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  judges  and  courts  of  law.     But  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  shall  confer  upon  the  courts  of  the  state 
all  necessary  powers    for   affording  relief  in  the  cases 
herein  named  ;  and  the  General  Assembly  shall  exercise 
all    other  jurisdiction    and   authority  which   they  have 
heretofore  entertained,  and  which  is  not  prohibited  by, 
nor  repugnant  to,  this  constitution. 

5.  The  General  Assembly  shall,   from  time  to  time, 
cause  estimates  to  be   made    of  the  ratable  property  of 
the  state,  in  order  to  the   equitable   apportionment  of 
state  taxes. 

6.  Whenever  a  direct   tax  is   laid  by  the  state,  one 
sixth  part  thereof  shall  be  assessed  on  the  polls  of  the 
qualified  electors  :  provided  that  the  tax  on  a  poll  shall 
never  exceed  the  sum  of  fifty  cents  ;   and  that  all  per 
sons  who  actually  perform  military  duty,  or  duty  in  the 
fire  department,  shall  be  exempted  from  said  poll  tax. 

7.  The  General  Assembly  shall  have  no  power  here 
after  to  incur  state  debts  to  an  amount  exceeding  the 
sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  except  in  time  of  war,  or 
in  case  of  invasion,  without  the  express  consent  of  the 


APPENDIX.  333 

people.  Every  proposition  for  such  increase  shall  be 
submitted  to  the  electors  at  the  next  annual  election, 
or  on  some  day  to  be  set  apart  for  that  purpose  ;  and 
shall  not  be  further  entertained  by  the  General  Assem 
bly,  unless  it  receive  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  all  the 
persons  voting.  This  section  shall  not  be  construed  to 
refer  to  any  money  that  now  is,  or  hereafter  may  be, 
deposited  with  this  state  by  the  general  government. 

8.  The  assent   of  two  thirds  of  the  members  elected 
to  each  House  of  the  General  Assembly  shall  be   re 
quisite  to  every  bill  appropriating  the  public  moneys, 
or  property,  for  local  or  private  purposes ;  or  for  creat 
ing,  continuing,  altering,  or  renewing   any  body  politic 
or  corporate,  banking  corporations  excepted. 

9.  Hereafter,    when   any  bill   creating,    continuing, 
altering,  or  renewing  any  banking  corporation,  author 
ized  to  issue  its  promissory  notes  for  circulation,  shall 
pass  the  two  Houses  of  the  General  Assembly,  instead 
of  being  sent  to  the  governor,  it  shall  be  referred  to  the 
electors  for  their  consideration,  at  the  next  annual  elec 
tion,  or  on  some  day  to  be  set  apart  for  that  purpose, 
with  printed  tickets  containing  the  question,  "  Shall  said 
bill  "  (with  a  brief  description  thereof,)  "  be  approved,  or 
not  ? "   and  if  a  majority  of  the  electors  voting  shall 
vote  to  approve  said  bill,  it  shall  become  a  law ;  other 
wise  not. 

10.  All  grants  of  incorporation  shall  be  subject   to 
future  acts  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  amendment  or 
repeal  thereof,  or   in  any  wise  affecting  the  same ;  and 
this  provision  shall  be  inserted  in  all  acts  of  incorpora 
tion  hereafter  granted. 

11.  The  General  Assembly  shall  exercise,  as  hereto 
fore,  a  visitatorial  power  over  corporations.     Three  bank 
commissioners  shall  be  chosen  at  the  June  session  for 
one  year,  to  carry  out  the  powers  of  the  General  As 
sembly  in  this  respect.     And  commissioners  for  the  vis 
itation  of  other  corporations,  as  the  General  Assembly 


334  APPENDIX. 

may  deem  expedient,  shall  be  chosen  at  the  June  session, 
for  the  same  term  of  office. 

12.  No  city  council,  or  other  government,   in  any 
city,  shall  have  power  to  vote  any  tax  upon  the  inhab 
itants  thereof,  excepting  the  amount  necessary  to  meet 
the  ordinary  public  expenses  in  the  same,  without  first 
submitting  the  question  of  an  additional  tax,  or  taxes, 
to  the  electors  of  said  city  ;  and  a  majority  of  all  who 
vote  shall  determine  the  question.     But  no  elector  shall 
be  entitled  to  vote,  in  any  city,  upon  any  question  of 
taxation  thus  submitted,  unless  he  shall  be  qualified  by 
the  possession,  in  his  own  right,  of  ratable  property  to 
the  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  shall 
have  been  assessed  thereon  to  pay  a  city  tax,  and  shall 
have  paid   the  same,  as  provided   in  section  fourth  of 
Article   II.     Nothing  in  that  article  shall  be   so  con 
strued  as  to  prevent  any  elector  from  voting  for  town 
officers,   and,    in   the    city  of   Providence,    and    other 
cities,  for  mayor,  aldermen,  and  members  of  the  com 
mon  council. 

13.  The  General  Assembly  shall  not  pass  any  law, 
nor  cause  any  act  or  thing  to  be  done,  in  any  way  to 
disturb  any  of  the  owners  or  occupants  of  land  in  any 
territory  now  under  the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  state  or 
states,  the  jurisdiction  whereof  may  be  ceded  to,  or  de 
creed  to  belong  to,  this   state  ;  and  the  inhabitants   of 
such  territory  shall  continue  in  the  full,  quiet,  and  un 
disturbed  enjoyment  of  their  titles  to  the  same,  without 
interference  in  any  way  on  the  part  of  this  state. 

ART.  X.  —  OF  ELECTIONS. 

1.  The  election  of  the  governor,  lieutenant  governor, 
secretary  of  state,  general  treasurer,  attorney  general, 
and  also  of  senators  and  representatives  to  the  General 
Assembly,  and  of  sheriffs  of  the  counties,  shall  be  held 
on  the  third  Wednesday  of  April  annually. 


APPENDIX.  335 

2.  The  names  of  the  persons  voted  for  as  governor, 
lieutenant  governor,  secretary   of  state,   general  treas 
urer,   attorney   general,   and   sheriffs  of  the   respective 
counties,  shall  be  put  upon  one  ticket ;  and  the  tickets 
shall  be   deposited  by  the  electors   in  a  box  by  them 
selves.     The  names  of  the  persons  voted  for  as  senators 
and  as  representatives  shall  be  put  upon  separate  tickets, 
and  the  tickets  shall  be   deposited  in   separate  boxes. 
The  polls  for  all  the  officers  named  in  this  section  shall 
be  opened  at  the  same  time. 

3.  All  the  votes  given  for   governor,  lieutenant   gov 
ernor,  secretary  of  state,  general  treasurer,  attorney  gen 
eral,  sheriffs,  and  also  for   senators,  shall  remain  in  the 
ballot  boxes  till  the  polls  be  closed.     These  votes  shall 
then,  in  open  town  and  ward  meetings,  and  in  the  pres 
ence  of  at   least  ten  qualified  voters,  be  taken  out  and 
sealed  up,  in  separate  envelopes,  by  the  moderators  and 
town  clerks,  and  by  the  wardens  and  ward  clerks,  who 
shall   certify  the    same,  and  forthwith  deliver  or   send 
them  to   the   secretary  of  state,  whose  duty  it  shall  be 
securely  to  keep  the  same,  and  to  deliver  the  votes  for 
state  officers  and  sheriffs  to  the  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  after   the  House  shall  be  organized,  at 
the  June  session  of  the  General  Assembly.     The  votes 
last  named  shall,  without  delay,  be   opened,  counted, 
and  declared,  in  such  manner  as  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  shall  direct  ;  and   the  oath  of  office  shall  be 
administered  to  the  persons  who  shall  be  declared  to  be 
elected,  by  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  House  :  provided  that  the 
sheriffs  may  take  their  engagement   before   a  senator, 
judge,  or  justice  of  the  peace.     The  votes  for  senators 
shall  be  counted  by  the  governor,  and  secretary  of  state 
within  seven  days  from  the  day  of  election ;  and  the 
governor  shall  give  certificates  to  the  senators  who  are 
elected. 

4.  The  boxes  containing  the  votes  for  representatives 


336  APPENDIX. 

to  the  General  Assembly  in  the  several  towns  shall  not 
be  opened  till  the  polls  for  representatives  are  declared 
to  be  closed.  The  votes  shall  then  be  counted  by  the 
moderator  and  clerk,  who  shall  announce  the  result, 
and  give  certificates  to  the  person  selected.  If  there  be 
no  election,  or  not  an  election  of  the  whole  number  of 
representatives  to  which  the  town  is  entitled,  the  polls 
for  representatives  may  be  reopened,  and  the  like  pro 
ceedings  shall  be  had,  until  an  election  shall  take 
place :  provided,  however,  that  an  adjournment  of  the 
election  may  be  made  to  a  time  not  exceeding  seven 
days  from,  the  first  meeting. 

5.  In  the  city  of  Providence,  and  other  cities,  the 
polls  for  representatives  shall  be  kept  open  during  the 
whole  time  of  voting  for  the  day ;  and  the  votes  in  the 
several  wards  shall  be   sealed  up,  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting,  by  the  wardens  and  ward  clerks,  in  the  pres 
ence  of  at  least  ten  qualified  electors,  and  delivered  to 
the  city  clerks.     The  mayor  and  aldermen  of  said  city 
or  cities  shall  proceed  to  count  said  votes  within  two 
days  from  the  day  of  election  ;  and  if  no  election,  or 
an  election  of  only  a  portion   of   the  representatives 
whom  the  representative  districts  are  entitled  to  elect, 
shall  have  taken  place,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  shall 
order  a  new  election  to  be  held,  not  more  than  ten  days 
from   the  day  of  the  first   election  ;  and  so  on,  till  the 
election  of  representatives  shall  be  completed.     Certifi 
cates  of  election  shall  be  furnished  to  the  persons  chosen 
by  the  city  clerks. 

6.  If  there  be  no  choice  of  a  senator  or  senators  at 
the  annual  election,  the  governor  shall  issue  his  warrant 
to  the  town  and  ward  clerks  of  the  several  towns  and 
cities  in  the  senatorial  district  or  districts  that  may  have 
failed  to  elect,  requiring  them  to   open  town  or  ward 
meetings  for  another  election,  on  a  day  not  more  than 
fifteen  days  beyond  the  time  of  counting  the  votes  for 
senators.     If,  on  the  second  trial,  there   shall  be  no 


APPENDIX.  337 

choice  of  a  senator  or  senators,  the  governor  shall  certify 
the  result  to  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  ;  and  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  as  many 
senators,  as  shall  have  been  chosen,  shall  forthwith 
elect,  in  joint  committee,  a  senator  or  senators,  from 
the  two  candidates  who  may  receive  the  highest  num 
ber  of  votes  in  each  district. 

7.  If  there  be  no  choice  of  governor  at  the  annual 
election,  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
shall  issue  his  warrant  to  the  clerks  of  the  several  towns 
and  cities,  requiring   them  to   notify   town  and  ward 
meetings  for  another  election,  on  a  day  to  be  named  by 
him,  not  more  than  thirty  nor  less  than  twenty  days 
beyond  the  time  of  receiving  the  report  of  the  committee 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  who  shall  count  the 
votes  for  governor.     If  on  this  second  trial  there  shall 
be  no  choice  of  a  governor,  the  two  Houses  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  shall,  at  their  next  session,  in  joint  com 
mittee,  elect  a  governor  from  the  two  candidates  having 
the  highest  number  of  votes,  to  hold  his  office  for  the 
remainder  of  the  political  year,  and  until  his  successor 
be  duly  qualified. 

8.  If  there  be  no  choice  of  governor  and  lieutenant 
governor  at  the  annual  election,  the  same  proceedings 
for  the  choice  of  a  lieutenant  governor  shall  be  had  as 
are  directed  in  the  preceding  section  :  provided,  tha,t 
the  second  trial  for  the  election  of  governor  and  lieu 
tenant  governor  shall  be  on  the  same  day  :   and  also 
provided,  that,  if  the  governor  shall  be  chosen  at  the 
annual  election,  and  the  lieutenant  governor  shall  not 
be  chosen,  then  the  last-named  officer  shall  be  elected 
in  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses,  from  the  two  can 
didates  having  the  highest  number  of  votes,  without  a 
further   appeal   to   the  electors.      The  lieutenant  gov 
ernor,  elected  as  is  provided  in  this  section,  shall  hold 
his  office  as  is  provided  in  the  preceding  section  respect 
ing  the  governor. 

29 


338  APPENDIX. 

9.  All  town,  city,  and  ward  meetings  for  the  choice 
of  representatives,  justices  of  the  peace,  sheriffs,  sen 
ators,   state   officers,   representatives   to   Congress,   and 
electors  of  president  and  vice  president,  shall  be  notified 
by  the  town,  city,  and  ward  clerks,  at  least  seven  days 
before  the  same  are  held. 

10.  In  all  elections  held  by  the  people  under  this 
constitution,  a  majority  of  all  the  electors  voting  shall 
be   necessary  to   the  choice  of  the   person   or   persons 
voted  for. 

11.  The  oath,  or  affirmation,  to  be  taken  by  all  the 
officers  named  in  this   article,  shall  be  the  following  : 
You,  being  elected  to  the  place  (of  governor,  lieutenant 
governor,  secretary  of  state,  general  treasurer,  attorney 
general,  or  to  the  places  of  senators  or  representatives, 
or  to  the  office  of  sheriff  or  justice  of  the  peace,)  do 
solemnly  swear,  or  severally  solemnly  swear,  or  affirm, 
that  you  will  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  and  that  you  will 
support  the  constitution  thereof;    that  you  will   sup 
port  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  ;    and  that 
you  will  faithfully  and  impartially  discharge  the  duties 
of  your-  aforesaid  office,  to  the  best  of  your  abilities  and 
understanding  :  so  help  you  God !  or,  this  affirmation 
you  make  and  give  upon  the  peril  of  the  penalty  of 
perjury. 

ART.  XI.  —  OF  THE  JUDICIARY. 

1.  The  judicial  power  of  this  state  shall  be  vested  in 
one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  other  courts,  inferior  to 
the  Supreme  Court,  as  the  legislature  may,  from  time 
to  time,  ordain  and  establish  ;  and  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Supreme  and  of  all  other  courts  may,  from  time  to 
time,  be  regulated  by  the  General  Assembly. 

£.  Chancery  powers  may  be  conferred  on  the  Su 
preme  Court  ;  but  no  other  court  exercising  chancery 
powers  shall  be  established  in  this  state,  except  as  is 
now  provided  by  law. 


APPENDIX.  339 

3.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be  elected 
in  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses,  to  hold  their  of 
fices  for  one  year,  and  until  their  places  be  declared 
vacant  by  a   resolution  to  that   effect,  which   shall   be 
voted  for  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
the  House  in  which  it  may  originate,  and  be  concurred 
in  by  the  same  vote  of  the  other  House,  without  re 
vision  by  the  governor.      Such  resolution  shall  not  be 
entertained  at  any  other  than  the  annual  session  for  the 
election  of  public  officers  ;  and  in  default  of  the  passage 
thereof  at  the  said  session,  the  judge,  or  judges,  shall 
hold  his  or  their  place  or  places  for  another  year.     But 
a  judge,  of  any  court  shall  be  removable  from  office,  if, 
upon  impeachment,  he   shall  be   found  guilty  of  any 
official  misdemeanor. 

4.  In  case  of  vacancy  by  the  death,  resignation,  re 
fusal,  or  inability  to  serve,  or  removal  from  the  state, 
of  a  judge  of  any  court,  his  place  may  be  filled  by  the 
joint  committee,  until  the  next  annual  election;  when, 
if  elected,  he  shall  hold  his  office  as  herein  provided. 

5.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  receive  a 
compensation  which   shall   not  be   diminished    during 
their  continuance  in  office. 

6.  The  judges  of  the  courts  inferior  to  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  be  annually  elected  in  joint  committee  of 
the  two  Houses,  except  as  herein  provided. 

7.  There  shall  be  annually  elected  by  each  town,  and 
by  the  several  wards  in  the  city  of  Providence,  a  suf 
ficient  number  of  justices    of  the  peace,   or  wardens 
resident  therein,  with  such  jurisdiction  as  the  General 
Assembly  may  prescribe.     And  said  justices  or  wardens 
(except  in  the  towns  of  New  Shoreham  and  Jamestown) 
shall  be  commissioned  by  the  governor. 

8.  The    General    Assembly   may    provide   that   jus 
tices   of  the  peace,  who   are  not  reflected,  may  hold 
their  offices  for  a  time  not  exceeding  ten  days  beyond 
the  day  of  the  annual  election  of  these  officers. 


340  APPENDIX. 

9.  The  courts  of  probate  in  this  state,  except  the  Su 
preme  Court,  shall  remain  as  at  present  established  by 
law,  until  the  General  Assembly  shall  otherwise  pre 
scribe. 

ART.  XII.  —  OF  EDUCATION. 

1.  All  moneys  which  now  are,  or  may  hereafter  be, 
appropriated,  by  the  authority  of  the  state,  to  public 
education,  shall  be  securely  invested,  and  remain  a  per 
petual  fund  for  the  maintenance  of  free  schools  in  this 
state ;  and  the  General  Assembly  are  prohibited  from 
diverting  said  moneys  or  fund  from  this  use,  and  from 
borrowing,  appropriating,  or  using   the   same,  or   any 
part  thereof,  for  any  other  purpose,  or  under  any  pre 
tence  whatsoever.     But  the  income  derived  from  said 
moneys  or  fund  shall  be   annually  paid  over,  by  the 
general  treasurer,  to  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  state, 
for  the  support  of  said  schools,  in  equitable  proportions  : 
provided,  however,  that  a  portion  of  said  income  may, 
in  the  discretion  of  the  General  Assembly,  be  added 
to  the  principal  of  said  fund. 

2.  The  several  towns  and  cities  shall  faithfully  de 
vote  their  portions  of  said  annual  distribution  to  the 
support  of  free  schools  ;  and,  in  default  thereof,  shall  for 
feit  their  shares  of  the  same  to  the  increase  of  the  fund. 

3.  All  charitable  donations   for  the  support  of  free 
schools,  and  other  purposes  of  public  education,  shall 
be  received  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  invested  and 
applied  agreeably  to  the  terms  prescribed  by  the  do 
nors  :   provided  the  same  be  not  inconsistent  with  the 
constitution,  or  with   sound  public   policy  ;   in  which 
case  the  donation  shall  not  be  received. 

ART.  XIII.  —  AMENDMENTS. 

The  General  Assembly  may  propose  amendments  to 
this  constitution  by  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  all  the 


APPENDIX. 

members  elected  to  each  House.  Such  propositions 
shall  be  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  state  ;  and 
printed  copies  of  said  propositions  shall  be  senfl<by  the 
secretary  of  state,  with  the  names  of  all  the  members 
who  shall  have  voted  thereon,  with  the  yeas  and  nays,  to 
all  the  town  and  city  clerks  in  the  state  ;  and  the  said 
propositions  shall  be,  by  said  clerks,  inserted  in  the 
notices  by  them  issued  for  warning  the  next  annual 
town  and  ward  meetings  in  April ;  and  the  town  and 
ward  clerks  shall  read  said  propositions  to  the  electors, 
when  thus  assembled,  with  the  names  of  all  the  repre 
sentatives  and  senators  who  shall  have  voted  thereon, 
with  the  yeas  and  nays,  before  the  election  of  repre 
sentatives  and  senators  shall  be  had.  If  a  majority  of 
all  the  members  elected  at  said  annual  meetings,  present 
in  each  House,  shall  approve  any  proposition  thus 
made,  the  same  shall  be  published  as  before  provided, 
and  then  sent  to  the  electors  in  the  mode  provided  in 
the  act  of  approval ;  and  if  then  approved  by  a  majority 
of  the  electors  who  shall  vote  in  town  and  ward  meet 
ings,  to  be  specially  convened  for  that  purpose,  it  shall 
become  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  state. 

ART.  XIV.  —  OF  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITU 
TION. 

1.  This  constitution  shall  be  submitted  to  the  people, 
for  their  adoption  or  rejection,  on  Monday,  the  27th 
day  of  December  next,  and  on  the  two  succeeding 
days  ;  and  all  persons  voting  are  requested  to  deposit 
in  the  ballot  boxes  printed  or  written  tickets  in  the  fol 
lowing  form  :  I  am  an  American  citizen,  of  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  and  have  my  permanent  residence,  or 
home,  in  this  state.  I  am  (or  not)  qualified  to  vote 
under  the  existing  laws  of  this  state.  I  vote  for  (or 
against)  the  constitution  formed  by  the  convention  of 
the  people,  assembled  at  Providence,  and  which  was 
29* 


APPENDIX. 


proposed  to  the  people  by  said  convention  on  the  18th 
day  of  November,  1841. 

2.  Every  voter  is  requested  to  write  his  name  on  the 
face  of  his  ticket  ;   and  every  person  entitled  to  vote  as 
aforesaid,  who,  from   sickness   or  other  causes,  may  be 
unable  to  attend  and  vote  in  the  town  or  ward  meetings 
assembled   for  voting   upon   said   constitution,   on   the 
days   aforesaid,  is  requested  to  write  his  name  upon  a 
ticket,  and  to  obtain  the  signature,  upon  the  back  of 
the  same,  of  a  person  who  has   given  in  his  vote,  as  a 
witness  thereto.     And  the  moderator,  or  clerk,  of  any 
town  or  ward  meeting  convened  for  the  purpose  afore 
said,  shall  receive  such  vote,  on  either  of  the  three  days 
next  succeeding  the  three  days  before  named  for  voting 
on  said  constitution. 

3.  The  citizens  of  the  several  towns  in  this  state,  and 
of  the  several  wards  in  the  city  of  Providence,  are  re 
quested  to  hold  town  and  ward  meetings  on  the  days 
appointed,  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid  ;  and  also  to 
choose,  in  each  town  and  ward,  a  moderator  and  clerk, 
to  conduct  said  meetings  and  receive  the  votes. 

4.  The  moderators  and  clerks  are  required  to  receive, 
and  carefully  to  keep,  the  votes  of  all  persons  qualified 
to  vote  as  aforesaid,  and  to  make   registers  of  all  the 
persons  voting  ;  which,  together  with  the  tickets  given 
in  by  the  voters,  shall  be   sealed  up,  and  returned  by 
said  moderators  and  clerks,  with  certificates  signed  and 
sealed  by  them,  to  the  clerks  of  the  convention  of  the 
people,  to  be  by  them  safely  deposited  and  kept,  and 
laid  before  said  convention,  to  be  counted  and  declared 
at  their  next  adjourned   meeting,  on  the   12th  day  of 
January,  1842. 

5.  This  constitution,  except  so  much  thereof  as  re 
lates  to  the  election  of  the  officers  named  in  the  sixth 
section  of  this  article,  shall,  if  adopted,  go  into  opera 
tion   on   the   first   Tuesday   of   May,  in   the   year   one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-two. 


APPENDIX.  343 

6.  So  much  of  the  constitution  as  relates  to  the  elec 
tion  of  the  officers  named  in  this  section  shall  go  into 
operation  on  the  Monday  before  the  third  Wednesday 
of  April  next  preceding.     The  first  election,  under  this 
constitution,  of  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  secretary 
of  state,  general  treasurer,  and  attorney  general,  of  sen 
ators    and   representatives,   of   sheriffs   for  the   several 
counties,  and  of  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  several 
towns,  and  the  wards  of  the  city  of  Providence,  shall 
take  place  on  the  Monday  aforesaid. 

7.  The  electors  of  the  several  towns  and  wards  are 
authorized  to   assemble  on  the  day  aforesaid,  without 
being  notified,  as  is  provided  in  Section  9  of  Article 
X.,  and  without  the  registration  required  in  Section 
7  of  Article  II.,  and  to  choose  moderators  and  clerks, 
and  proceed  in  the  election  of  the  officers  named  in  the 
preceding  section. 

8.  The  votes  given  in  at  the  first  election  for  repre 
sentatives  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  for  justices  of 
the  peace,  shall  be  counted  by  the  moderators  and  clerks 
of  the  towns  and  wards  chosen  as  aforesaid ;  and  cer 
tificates  of  election,  shall  be  furnished  by  them  to  the 
representatives  and  justices  of  the  peace  elected. 

9.  Said  moderators  and  clerks  shall  seal  up,  certify, 
and  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  all  the 
votes  that  may  be  given  in  at  said  first  election   for 
governor  and  state  officers,  and  for  senators  and  sheriffs  ; 
and  the  votes  shall  be  counted  as  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  may  direct. 

10.  The   speaker  of  the    House  of  Representatives 
shall,  at  the  first  session  of  the  same,  qualify  himself  to 
administer  the   oath  of  office  to  the  members  of  the 
House,  and  to  other  officers,  by  taking  and  subscribing 
the  same  oath  in  the  presence  of  the  House. 

11.  The  first  session  of  the  General  Assembly  shall 
be  held  in  the  city  of  Providence  on  the  first  Tuesday 
of  May,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 


£44 

forty-two,  with  sttch  adjournments  as  may  be  necessary  £ 
but  all  other  sessions  shall  be  held  as  is  provided  in 
Article  IV.  of  this  constitution. 

12.  If  any  of  the  representatives,  whom  the  towns- 
or  districts  are  entitled  to  choose  at  the  first  annual 
election  aforesaid,  shall  not  be  then  elected,  or  if  their 
places  shall  become  vacant  during  the  year,  the  same- 
proceedings  may  be  had  to  complete  the  election,  or  to 
supply  vacancies,,  as  are  directed  concerning  elections  irv 
the  preceding  sections  of  this  article. 

•  13.  If  there  shall  be  no  election  of  governor  or  lieu 
tenant  governor,  or  of  both  of  these  officers,  or  of  a 
senator  or  senators,  at  the  first  annual  election,  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  as  many  senators  as  are 
chosen,  shall  forthwith  elect,  in  joint  committee,  a  gov 
ernor  or  lieutenant  governor,  or  both,  or  a  senator  or 
senators,  to  hold  their  offices  for  the  remainder  of  the 
political  year ;  and,  in  the  ease  of  the  two  officers  first 
named,  until  their  successors  shall  be  duly  qualified. 

14.  If  the  number  of  justices  of  the  peace  determined 
by  the  several  towns  and  wards  on  the  day  of  the  first 
annual  election  shall  not  be  then  chosen,  or  if  vacancies 
shall  occur,  the  same  proceedings  shall  be  had  as  are 
provided  for  in  this  article  in  the  case  of  a  non-election 
of  representatives  and  senators,  or  of  vacancies  in  their 
offices.       The  justices  of  the   peace  thus  elected  shall 
hold  office  for  the  remainder  of  the  political  year,  or 
until  the  second  annual  election  of  justices  of  the  peace, 
to  be  held  on  such  day  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the 
General  Assembly. 

15.  The  justices  of  the  peace  elected  in  pursuance  of 
the  provisions  of  this  article  may  be  engaged  Vjy  the 
persons  acting    as  moderators  of  the  town   and  ward 
meetings,  as  herein  provided ;    and  said  justices,  after 
obtaining  their  certificates  of  election,  may  discharge 
the  duties  of  their  office,  for  a  time  not  exceeding  twen 
ty  days,  without  a  commission  from  the  governor. 


APPENDIX.  345 

16.  Nothing  contained  in  this   article,  inconsistent 
with  any  of  the  provisions  of  other  articles  of  the  con 
stitution,  shall  continue  in  force  for  a  longer  period  than 
the  first  political  year  under  the  same. 

17.  The  present  government  shall  exercise  all  the 
powers  with  which  it  is  now  clothed,  until  the  said  first 
Tuesday  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty- 
two,. and  until  their  successors,  under  this  constitution, 
shall  be  duly  elected  and  qualified. 

18.  All  civil,  judicial,  and  military  officers  now  elect 
ed,  or   who  shall  hereafter  be  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly,  or  other  competent  authority,  before  the  said 
first  Tuesday  of  May,  shall  hold  their  offices,  and  may 
exercise  their  powers,  until  that  time. 

19.  All  laws  and  statutes,  public  and  private,  now  in 
force,  and  not  repugnant  to  this  constitution,  shall  con 
tinue  in  force  until  they  expire  by  their  own  limitation, 
or  are  repealed  by  the  General  Assembly.    All  contracts, 
judgments,  actions,  and  rights  of  action  shall  be  as  valid 
as  if  this  constitution  had  not  been  made.     All  debts 
contracted,  and  engagements   entered  into,  before  the 
adoption  of  this  constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against 
the  state  as  if  this  constitution  had  not  been  made. 

20.  The  Supreme  Court,  established  by  this  constitu 
tion,  shall  have  the  same  jurisdiction  as  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  at  present  established  ;  and  shall  have 
jurisdiction  of  all  causes  which  may  be  appealed  to,  or 
pending  in  the  same;   and  shall  be  held  at  the  same 
times  and  places  in  each  county,  as  the  present  Supreme 
Judicial  Court,  until  the  General  Assembly  shall  other 
wise  prescribe. 

21:  The  citizens  of  the  town  of  New  Shoreham  shall 
be  hereafter  exempted  from  military  duty,  and  the  duty 
of  serving  as  jurors  in  the  courts  of  this  state.  The 
citizens  of  the  town  of  Jamestown  shall  be  forever 
hereafter  exempted  from  military  field  duty. 

22.    The  General  Assembly  shall,  at  their  first  session 


346  APPENDIX. 

after  the  adoption  of  this  constitution,  propose  to  the 
electors  the  question,  whether  the  word  "white,"  in 
the  first  line  of  the  first  section  of  Article  II.  of  the  con 
stitution,  shall  be  stricken  out.  The  question  shall  be 
voted  upon  at  the  succeeding  annual  election  ;  and  if  a 
majority  of  the  electors  voting  shall  vote  to  strike  out 
the  word  aforesaid,  it  shall  be  stricken  from  the  consti 
tution  ;  otherwise,  not.  If  the  word  aforesaid  shall  be 
stricken  out,  Section  3  of  Article  II.  shall  cease  to  be  a 
part  of  the  constitution. 

£3.  The  president,-  vice  presidents,  and  secretaries 
shall  certify  and  sign  this  constitution,  and  cause  the 
same  to  be  published. 

Done  in  convention,  at  Providence,  on  the  18th  day 
of  November,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty-one,  and  of  American  independence  the  sixty- 
sixth. 

JOSEPH  JOSLIN,  President  of  the  Convention. 


Attest: 

WILLIAM  H.  SMITH,  )  Secreta- 
JOHN  S.  HARRIS,        }  **     taries* 


CONSTITUTION   OF   THE    STATE    OF   RHODE 
ISLAM)  AND  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS, 

ADOPTED  NOVEMBER,  1842. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for 
the  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  he  hath  so  long 
permitted  us  to  enjoy,  and  looking  to  him  for  a  blessing 
upon  our  endeavors  to  secure  and  to  transmit  the  same, 


APPENDIX.  347 

unimpaired,  to  succeeding  generations,  do  ordain  and 
establish  this  constitution  of  government. 

ART.  I.  —  DECLARATION  OF  CERTAIN  CONSTITUTIONAL 
RIGHTS  AND  PRINCIPLES. 

In  order  effectually  to  secure  the  religious  and  politi 
cal  freedom  established  by  our  venerated  ancestors,  and 
to  preserve  the  same  for  our  posterity,  we  do  declare 
that  the  essential  and  unquestionable  rights  and  princi 
ples  hereinafter  mentioned  shall  be  established,  main 
tained,  and  preserved,  and  shall  be  of  paramount  obliga 
tion  in  all  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  proceedings. 

SECTION  1.  In  the  words  of  the  Father  of  his  Coun 
try,  we  declare  that  "  the  basis  of  our  political  systems 
is  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  and  alter  their  con 
stitutions  of  government ;  but  that  the  constitution  which 
at  any  time  exists,  till  changed  by  an  explicit  and  au 
thentic  act  of  the  whole  people,  is  sacredly  obligatory 
upon  all." 

SEC.  2.  All  free  governments  are  instituted  for  the 
protection,  safety,  and  happiness  of  the  people.  All 
laws,  therefore,  should  be  made  for  the  good  of  the 
whole ;  and  the  burdens  of  the  state  ought  to  be  fairly 
distributed  among  its  citizens. 

SEC.  3.  Whereas  Almighty  God  hath  created  the 
mind  free ;  and  all  attempts  to  influence  it  by  temporal 
punishments  or  burdens,  or  by  civil  incapacitations,  tend 
to  beget  habits  of  hypocrisy  and  meanness :  and  whereas 
a  principal  object  of  our  venerable  ancestors,  in  their 
migration  to  this  country,  and  their  settlement  of  this 
state,  was,  as  they  expressed  it,  to  hold  forth  a  lively 
experiment  that  a  flourishing  civil  state  may  stand  and 
be  best  maintained  with  full  liberty  in  religious  concern 
ments:  "We  therefore  declare  that  no  man  shall  be  com 
pelled  to  frequent  or  to  support  any  religious  worship, 
place,  or  ministry  whatever,  except  in  fulfilment  of  his 


348  APPENDIX. 

own  voluntary  contract ;  nor  enforced,  restrained,  mo 
lested,  or  burdened  in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  disqual 
ified  from  holding  any  office,  nor  otherwise  suffer,  on 
account  of  his  religious  belief;  and  that  every  man 
shall  be  free  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience,  and  to  profess,  and  by  argument 
to  maintain,  his  opinion  in  matters  of  religion  ;  and  that 
the  same  shall  in  no  wise  diminish,  enlarge,  or  affect  his 
civil  capacity. 

SEC.  4.    Slavery  shall  not  be  permitted  in  this  state. 

SEC.  5.  Every  person  within  this  state  ought  to  find 
a  certain  remedy,  by  having  recourse -to  the  laws,  for  all 
injuries  or  wrongs  which  he  may  receive  in  his  person, 
property,  or  character.  He  ought  to  obtain  right  and 
justice  freely  and  without  purchase,  completely  and 
without  denial,  promptly  and  without  delay,  comform- 
ably  to  the  laws. 

SEC.  6.  The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons,  papers,  and  possessions,  against  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated ;  and  no 
warrant  shall  issue  but  on  complaint  in  writing,  upon 
probable  cause  supported  by  oath  or  affirmation,  and 
describing  as  nearly  as  may  be  the  place  to  be  searched, 
and  the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

SEC.  7.  No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  cap 
ital  or  other  infamous  crime,  unless  on  presentment  or 
indictment  by  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  of  impeach 
ment,  or  of  such  offences  as  are  cognizable  by  a  justice 
of  the  peace  ;  or  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval 
forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  service  in  time 
of  war  or  public  danger.  No  person  shall,  after  an  ac 
quittal,  be  tried  for  the  same  offence. 

SEC.  8.  Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  ex 
cessive  fines  imposed,  nor  cruel  punishments  inflicted ; 
and  all  punishments  ought  to  be  proportioned  to  the 
offence. 

SEC.  9.    All  persons  imprisoned  ought  to  be  bailed  by 


APPENDIX.  349 

sufficient  surety,  unless  for  offences  punishable  by  death 
or  by  imprisonment  for  life,  when  the  proof  of  guilt  is 
evident  or  the  presumption  great.  The  privilege  of  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless 
when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety 
shall  require  it ;  nor  ever,  without  the  authority  of  the 
General  Assembly. 

SEC.  10.  In  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  accused 
shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an 
impartial  jury,  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause 
of  the  accusation,  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses 
against  him,  to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining 
them  in  his  favor,  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel 
in  his  defence,  and  shall  be  at  liberty  to  speak  for  him 
self;  nor  shall  he  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  prop 
erty,  unless  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the  laws  of 
the  land. 

SEC.  11.  The  person  of  a  debtor,  when  there  is  not 
strong  presumption  of  fraud,  ought  not  to  be  continued 
in  prison  after  he  shall  have  delivered  up  his  property 
for  the  benefit  of  his  creditor,  in  such  manner  as  shall 
be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  12.  No  ex-post-facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the 
obligation  of  contracts,  shall  be'  passed. 

SEC.  13.  No  man  in  a  court  of  common  law  shall  be 
compelled  to  give  evidence  criminating  himself. 

SEC.  14.  Every  man  being  presumed  innocent  until 
he  is  pronounced  guilty  by  the  law,  no  act  of  severity 
which  is  not  necessary  to  secure  an  accused  person  shall 
be  permitted. 

SEC.  15.  The  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  remain  in 
violate. 

SEC.  16.  Private  property  shall  not  be  taken  for  pub 
lic  uses  without  just  compensation. 

SEC.  17.  The  people  shall  continue  to  enjoy  and 
freely  exercise  all  the  rights  of  fishery,  and  the  privi 
leges  of  the  shore,  to  which  they  have  been  heretofore 
30 


350  APPENDIX. 

entitled  under  the  charter  and  usages  of  this  state.  But 
no  neV  right  is  intended  to  be  granted,  nor  any  existing 
right  impaired,  by  this  declaration. 

SEC.  18.  The  military  shall  be  held  in  strict  subor 
dination  to  the  civil  authority.  And  the  law  martial 
shall  be  used  and  exercised  in  such  cases  only  as  occa 
sion  shall  necessarily  require. 

SEC.  19.  No  soldier  shall  be  quartered  in  any  house, 
in  time  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of  the  owner  ;  nor 
in  time  of  war,  but  in  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  20.  The  liberty  of  the  press  being  essential  to 
the  security  of  freedom  in  a  state,  any  person  may  pub 
lish  his  sentiments  on  any  subject,  being  responsible  for 
the  abuse  of  that  liberty  ;  and  in  all  trials  for  libel,  both 
civil  and  criminal,  the  truth,  unless  published  from 
malicious  motives,  shall  be  sufficient  defence  to  the  per 
son  charged. 

SEC.  21.  The  citizens  have  a  right  in  a  peaceable 
manner  to  assemble  for  their  common  good,  and  to 
apply  to  those  invested  with  the  powers  of  government 
for  redress  of  grievances,  or  for  other  purposes,  by  pe 
tition,  address,  or  remonstrance. 

SEC.  22.  The  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear 
arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

SEC.  23.  The  enumeration  of  the  foregoing  rights 
shall  not  be  construed  to  impair  or  deny  others  retained 
by  the  people. 

ART.  II.  —  OF  THE  QUALIFICATION  OF  ELECTORS. 

SECTION  1.  Every  male  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  had  his  residence 
and  home  in  this  state  for  one  year,  and  in  the  town  or 
city  in  which  he  may  claim  a  right  to  v6te  six  months 
next  preceding  the  time  of  voting,  and  who  is  really 
and  truly  possessed,  in  his  own  right,  of  real  estate  in 
such  town  or  city,  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  and 


APPENDIX.  351 

thirty-four  dollars  over  and  above  all  encumbrances,  or 
which  shall  rent  for  seven  dollars  per  annum  over  and 
above  any  rent  reserved,  or  the  interest  of  any  encum 
brances  thereon,  being  an  estate  in  fee  simple,  fee  tail, 
for  the  life  of  any  person,  or  an  estate  in  reversion  or 
remainder,  which  qualifies  no  other  person  to  vote,  the 
conveyance  of  which  estate,  if  by  deed,  shall  have  been 
recorded  at  least  ninety  days,  shall  thereafter  have  a 
right  to  vote  in  the  election  of  all  civil  officers,  and  on 
all  questions  in  all  legal  town  or  ward  meetings,  so  long 
as  he  continues  so  qualified.  And  if  any  person  here 
inbefore  described  shall  own  any  such  estate  within  this 
state,  out  of  the  town  or  city  in  which  he  resides,  he 
shall  have  a  right  to  vote  in  the  election  of  all  general 
officers,  and  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  the 
town  or  city  in  which  he  shall  have  had  his  residence 
and  home  for  the  term  of  six  months  next  preceding 
the  election,  upon  producing  a  certificate  from  the  clerk 
of  the  town  or  city  in  which  his  estate  lies,  bearing  date 
within  ten  days  of  the  time  of  his  voting,  setting  forth 
that  such  person  has  a  sufficient  estate  therein  to  qualify 
him  as  a  voter ;  and  that  the  deed,  if  any,  has  been 
recorded  ninety  days. 

SEC.  2.  Eveiy  [  ]  male  native  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  who  has  had  his 
residence  and  home  in  this  state  two  years,  and  in  the 
town  or  city  in  which  he  may  offer  to  vote  six  months 
next  preceding  the  time  of  voting,  whose  name  is 
registered  pursuant  to  the  act  calling  the  convention  to 
frame  this  constitution,  or  shall  be  registered  in  the 
office  of  the  clerk  of  such  town  or  city  at  least  seven 
days  before  the  time  he  shall  offer  to  vote,  and  before 
the  last  day  of  December  in  the  present  year,  and  who 
has  paid  or  shall  pay  a  tax  or  taxes  assessed  upon  his 
estate  within  this  state,  and  within  a  year  of  the  time 
of  voting,  to  the  amount  of  one  dollar,  or  who  shall 
voluntarily  pay  at  least  seven  days  before  the  time  he 


APPENDIX. 


shall  offer  to  vote,  and  before  said  last  day  of  De 
cember,  to  the  clerk  or  treasurer  of  the  town  or  city 
where  he  resides,  the  sum  of  one  dollar,  or  such  sum 
as,  with  his  other  taxes,  shall  amount  to  one  dollar,  for 
the  support  of  public  schools  therein,  and  shall  make 
proof  of  the  same,  by  the  certificate  of  the  clerk,  treas 
urer,  or  collector  of  any  town  or  city  where  such  pay 
ment  is  made  ;  or  who,  being  so  registered,  has  been 
enrolled  in  any  military  company  in  this  state,  and 
done  military  service  or  duty  therein,  within  the  present 
year,  pursuant  to  law,  and  shall  (until  other  proof  is 
required  by  law)  prove  by  the  certificate  of  the  officer 
legally  commanding  the  regiment,  or  chartered  or  le 
gally  authorized  volunteer  company,  in  which  he  may 
have  served  or  done  duty,  that  he  has  been  equipped 
and  done  duty  according  to  law,  or,  by  the  certificate  of 
the  commissioners  upon  military  claims,  that  he  has 
performed  military  service,  shall  have  a  right  to  vote  in 
the  election  of  all  civil  officers,  and  on  all  questions  in 
all  legally  organized  town  or  ward  meetings,  until  the 
end  of  the  first  year  after  the  adoption  of  this  consti 
tution,  or  until  the  end  of  the  year  eighteen  hundred 
and  forty-three. 

From  and  after  that  time,  every  such  citizen  who  has 
had  the  residence  herein  required,  and  whose  name  shall 
be  registered  in  the  town  where  he  resides,  on  or  before 
the  last  day  of  December,  in  the  year  next  preceding 
the  time  of  his  voting,  and  who  shall  show,  by  legal 
proof,  that  he  has,  for  and  within  the  year  next  pre 
ceding  the  time  he  shall  offer  to  vote,  paid  a  tax  or 
taxes  assessed  against  him  in  any  town  or  city  in  this 
state,  to  the  amount  of  one  dollar,  or  that  he  has  been 
enrolled  in  a  military  company  in  this  state,  been 
equipped  and  done  duty  therein  according  to  law,  and 
at  least  for  one  day  during  such  year,  shall  have  a  right 
to  vote  in  the  election  of  all  civil  officers,  and  on  all 
questions  in  all  legally  organized  town  or  ward  meet- 


APPENDIX.  353 

* 

ings :  Provided,  That  no  person  shall  at  any  time  be 
allowed  to  vote  in  the  election  of  the  city  council  of  the 
city  of  Providence,  or  upon  any  proposition  to  impose 
a  tax,  or  for  the  expenditure  of  money  in  any  town  or 
city,  unless  he  shall,  within  the  year  next  preceding, 
have  paid  a  tax  assessed  upon  his  property  therein, 
valued  at  least  at  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars. 

SEC.  3.  The  assessors  of  each  town  or  city  shall  an 
nually  assess  upon  every  person  whose  name  shall  be 
registered,  a  tax  of  one  dollar,  or  such  sum  as  with  his 
other  taxes  shall  amount  to  one  dollar  ;  which  registry 
tax  shall  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  such  town  or  city, 
and  be  applied  to  the  support  of  public  schools  therein. 
But  no  compulsory  process  shall  issue  for  the  collection 
of  any  registry  tax  :  Provided,  That  the  registry  tax  of 
every  person  who  has  performed  military  duty  accord 
ing  to  the  provisions  of  the  preceding  section,  shall  be 
remitted  for  the  year  he  shall  perform  such  duty ;  and 
the  registry  tax  assessed  upon  any  mariner,  for  any 
year  while  he  is  at  sea,  shall,  upon  his  application,  be 
remitted  ;  and  no  person  shall  be  allowed  to  vote  whose 
registry  tax,  for  either  of  the  two  years  next  preceding 
the  time  of  voting,  is  not  paid  or  remitted  as  herein 
provided. 

SEC.  4.  ISCo  person  in  the  military,  naval,  marine,  or 
any  other  service  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  con 
sidered  as  having  the  required  residence  by  reason  of 
being  employed  in  any  garrison,  barrack,  or  military  or 
naval  station  in  this  state  ;  and  no  pauper,  lunatic,  per 
son  non  compos  mentis,  person  under  guardianship,  or 
member  of  the  Narragansett  tribe  of  Indians,  shall  be 
permitted  to  be  registered  or  to  vote.  Nor  shall  any 
person  convicted  of  bribery,  or  of  any  crime  deemed 
infamous  at  common  law,  be  permitted  to  exercise  that 
privilege,  unless  he  be  expressly  restored  thereto  by 
act  of  the  General  Assembly. 

SEC.  5.    Persons  residing  on  lands  ceded  by  this  state 
30* 


354  APPENDIX. 

• 

to  the  United  States  shall  not  be  entitled  to  exercise 
the  privileges  of  electors. 

SEC.  6.  The  General  Assembly  shall  have  full  power 
to  provide  for  a  registry  of  voters,  to  prescribe  the  man 
ner  of  conducting  the  elections,  the  form  of  certificates, 
the  nature  of  the  evidence  to  be  required  in  case  of  a 
dispute  as  to  the  right  of  any  person  to  vote,  and  gener 
ally  to  enact  all  laws  necessary  to  carry  this  article  into 
effect,  and  to  prevent  abuse,  corruption,  and  fraud  in 
voting. 

ART.  III.  —  OF  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS, 

The  powers  of  government  shall  be  distributed  into 
three  departments  —  the  legislative,  executive,  and  ju 
dicial. 

ART.  IV.  —  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  POWER. 

.  SECTION  1.  This  constitution  shall  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  state,  and  any  law  inconsistent  therewith 
shall  be  void.  The  General  Assembly  shall  pass  all 
laws  necessary  to  carry  this  constitution  into  effect. 

SEC.  2.  The  legislative  power  under  this  constitution 
shall  be  vested  in  two  Houses  —  the  one  to  be  called 
the  Senate,  the  other  the  House  of  Representatives  ; 
and  both  together,  the  General  Assembly.  The  con 
currence  of  the  two  Houses  shall  be  necessary  to  the 
enactment  of  laws.  The  style  of  their  laws  shall  be, 
It  is  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  as  follows. 

SEC.  3.  There  shall  be  two  sessions  of  the  General 
Assembly  holden  annually  —  one  at  Newport,  on  the 
first  Tuesday  of  May,  for  the  purposes  of  election  and 
other  business ;  the  other  on  the  last  Monday  of  Oc 
tober,  which  last  session  shall  be  holden  at  South  Kings 
town  once  in  two  years,  and  the  intermediate  years 
alternately  at  Bristol  and  East  Greenwich  ;  and  an  ad 
journment  from  the  October  session  shall  be  holden 
annually  at  Providence. 


APPENDIX.  355 

SEC.  4.  No  member  of  the  General  Assembly  shall 
take  any  fee,  or  be  of  counsel  in  any  case  pending  before 
either  House  of  the  General  Assembly,  under  penalty 
of  forfeiting  his  seat,  upon  proof  thereof  to  the  satisfac 
tion  of  the  House  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

SEC.  5.  The  person  of  every  member  of  the  General 
Assembly  shall  be  exempt  from  arrest,  and  his  estate 
from  attachment  in  any  civil  action,  during  the  session 
of  the  General  Assembly,  and  two  days  before  the  com 
mencement,  and  two  days  after  the  termination  thereof ; 
and  all  process  served  contrary  hereto  shall  be  void. 
For  any  speech  in  debate,  in  either  House,  no  member 
shall  be  questioned  in  any  other  place. 

SEC.  6.  Each  House  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elec 
tions  and  qualifications  of  its  members,  and  a  majority 
shall  constitute  a  quorum  to  do  business ;  but  a  smaller 
number  may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  compel 
the  attendance  of  absent  members,  in  such  manner  and 
under  such  penalties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  such 
House,  or  by  law.  The  organization  of  the  two  Houses 
may  be  regulated  by  law,  subject  to  the  limitations  con 
tained  in  this  constitution. 

SEC.  7.  Each  House  may  determine  its  rules  of 
proceeding,  punish  contempts,  punish  its  members  for 
disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two 
thirds,  expel  a  member  ;  but  not  a  second  time  for  the 
same  cause. 

SEC.  8.  Each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  pro 
ceedings.  The  yeas  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either 
House  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one  fifth  of  those  present, 
be  entered  on  the  journal. 

SEC.  9.  Neither  house  shall,  during  a  session,  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  two 
days,  nor  to  any  other  place  than  that  in  which  they 
may  be  sitting. 

SEC.  10.  The  General  Assembly  shall  continue  to 
exercise  the  powers  they  have  heretofore  exercised, 
unless  prohibited  in  this  constitution. 


356  •  APPENDIX. 

SEC.  11.  The  senators  and  representatives  shall  re 
ceive  the  sum  of  one  dollar  for  every  day  of  attend 
ance,  and  eight  cents  per  mile  for  travelling  expenses  in 
going  to  and  returning  from  the  General  Assembly. 
The  General  Assembly  shall  regulate  the  compensation 
of  the  governor  and  all  other  officers,  subject  to  the 
limitations  contained  in  this  constitution. 

SEC.  1£.  All  lotteries  shall  hereafter  be  prohibited  in 
this  state,  except  those  already  authorized  by  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly. 

SEC.  13.  The  General  Assembly  shall  have  no  power 
hereafter,  without  the  express  consent  of  the  people,  to 
incur  state  debts  to  an  amount  exceeding  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  except  in  time  of  war,  or  in  case  of  insurrection 
or  invasion;  nor  shall  they  in  any  case,  without  such 
consent,  pledge  the  faith  of  the  state  for  the  payment  of 
the  obligations  of  others.  This  section  shall  not  be  con 
strued  to  refer  to  any  money  that  may  be  deposited  with 
this  state  by  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

SEC.  14.  The  assent  of  two  thirds  of  the  members 
elected  to  each  House  of  the  General  Assembly  shall  be 
required  to  every  bill  appropriating  the  public  money  or 
property  for  local  or  private  purposes. 

SEC.  15.  The  General  Assembly  shall,  from  time  to 
time,  provide  for  making  new  valuations  of  property 
for  the  assessment  of  taxes,  in  such  manner  as  they  may 
deem  best.  A  new  estimate  of  such  property  shall  be 
taken  before  the  first  direct  state  tax  after  the  adoption 
of  this  constitution  shall  be  assessed. 

SEC.  16.  The  General  Assembly  may  provide  by  law 
for  the  continuance  in  office  of  any  officers  of  annual 
election  or  appointment,  until  other  persons  are  qualified 
to  take  their  places. 

SEC.  17.  Hereafter,  when  any  bill  shall  be  presented 
to  either  House  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  create  a 
corporation  for  any  other  than  for  religious,  literary,  or 
charitable  purposes,  or  for  a  military  or  fire  company, 


APPENDIX.  357 

it  shall  be  continued  until  another  election  of  members 
of  the  General  Assembly  shall  have  taken  place ;  and 
such  public  notice  of  the  pendency  thereof  shall  be 
given  as  may  be  required  by  law. 

SEC.  18.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  two  Houses, 
upon  the  request  of  either,  to  join  in  grand  committee 
for  the  purpose  of  electing  senators  in  Congress,  at  such 
times,  and  in  such  manner,  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law 
for  said  elections. 

ART.  V.  —  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

SECTION  1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  never 
exceed  seventy-two  members,  and  shall  be  constituted 
on  the  basis  of  population,  always  allowing  one  repre 
sentative  for  a  fraction  exceeding  half  the  ratio;  but 
each  town  or  city  shall  always  be  entitled  to  at  least  one 
member  ;  and  no  town  or  city  shall  have  more  than  one 
sixth  of  the  whole  number  of  the  members  to  which  the 
House  is  hereby  limited.  The  present  ratio  shall  be  one 
representative  to  every  fifteen  hundred  and  thirty  in 
habitants  ;  and  the  General  Assembly  may,  after  any 
new  census  taken  by  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
or  of  this  state,  reapportion  the  representation  by  alter 
ing  the  ratio  ;  but  no  town  or  city  shall  be  divided  into 
districts  for  the  choice  of  representatives. 

SEC.  8.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  have 
authority  to  elect  its  speaker,  clerks,  and  other  officers. 
The  senior  member  from  the  town  of  Newport,  if  any 
be  present,  shall  preside  in  the  organization  of  the 
House. 

ART.  VI.  —  OF  THE  SENATE. 

SECTION  1.  The  Senate  shall  consist  of  the  lieuten 
ant  governor,  and  of  one  senator  from  each  town  or 
city  in  the  state. 

SEC.  2.    The  governor,  and,  in  his  absence,  the  lieu- 


358  APPENDIX. 

« 

tenant  governor,  shall  preside  in  the  Senate  and  in 
grand  committee.  The  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate 
and  grand  committee  shall  have  a  right  to  vote  in  case 
of  equal  division,  but  not  otherwise. 

SEC.  3.  If,  by  reason  of  death,  resignation,  absence, 
or  other  cause,  there  be  no  governor  or  lieutenant  gov 
ernor  present,  to  preside  in  the  Senate,  the  Senate  shall 
elect  one  of  their  own  members  to  preside  during  such 
absence  or  vacancy  ;  and  until  such  election  is  made  by 
the  Senate,  the  secretary  of  state  shall  preside. 

SEC.  4.  The  secretary  of  state  shall,  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  be  secretary  of  the  Senate,  unless  otherwise  pro 
vided  by  law;  and  the  Senate -may  elect  such  other  offi 
cers  as  they  may  deem  necessary. 

ART.  VII.  —  OF  THE  EXECUTIVE  POWER. 

SECTION  1.  The  chief  executive  power  of  this  state 
shall  be  vested  in  a  governor,  who,  together  with  a 
lieutenant  governor,  shall  be  annually  elected  by  the 
people. 

SEC.  £.  The  governor  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be 
faithfully  executed. 

SEC.  3.  He  shall  be  captain  general  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  this  state, 
except  when  they  shall  be  called  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States. 

SEC.  4.  He  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves,  after 
conviction,  in  all  cases  except  those  of  impeachment, 
until  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  the  General  As 
sembly. 

SEC.  5.  He  may  fill  vacancies  in  office  not  otherwise 
provided  for  by  this  constitution  or  by  law,  until  the 
same  shall  be  filled  by  the  General  Assembly  or  by  the 
people. 

SEC.  6.  In  case  of  disagreement  between  the  two 
Houses  of  the  General  Assembly,  respecting  the  time  or 


APPENDIX.  359 

place  .of  adjournment,  certified  to  him  by  either,  he  may 
adjourn  them  to  such  time  and  place  as  he  shall  think 
proper  :  Provided,  That  the  time  of  adjournment  shall 
not  be  extended  beyond  the  day  of  the  next  stated 
session.  « 

SEC.  7.  He  may,  on  extraordinary  occasions,  con 
vene  the  General  Assembly  at  any  town  or  city  in  this 
state,  at  any  time  not  provided  for  by  law ;  and  in  case 
of  danger  from  the  prevalence  of  epidemic  or  contagious 
disease  in  the  place  in  which  the  General  Assembly  are 
by  law  to  meet,  or  to  which  they  may  have  been  ad 
journed,  or  for  other  urgent  reasons,  he  may,  by  procla 
mation,  convene  said  Assembly  at  any  other  place 
within  this  state. 

SEC.  8.  All  commissions  shall  be  in  the  name  and  by 
authority  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations ;  shall  be  sealed  with  the  state  seal,  signed 
by  the  governor,  and  attested  by  the  secretary. 

SEC.  9.  In  case  of  vacancy  in  the  office  of  governor, 
or  of  his  inability  to  serve,  impeachment,  or  absence 
from  the  state,  the  lieutenant  governor  shall  fill  the 
office  of  governor,  and  exercise  the  powers  and  author 
ity  appertaining  thereto,  until  a  governor  is  qualified 
to  act,  or  until  the  office  is  filled  at  the  next  annual 
election. 

SEC.  10.  If  the  offices  of  governor  and  lieutenant 
governor  be  both  vacant,  by  reason  of  death,  resigna 
tion,  impeachment,  absence,  or  otherwise,  the  person 
entitled  to  preside  over  the  Senate  for  the  time  being, 
shall,  in  like  manner,  fill  the  office  of  governor  during 
such  absence  or  vacancy. 

SEC.  11.  The  compensation  of  the  governor  and  lieu 
tenant  governor  shall  be  established  by  law,  and  shall 
not  be  diminished  during  the  term  for  which  they  are 
elected. 

SEC.  12.  The  duties  and  powers  of  the  secretary, 
attorney  general,  and  general  treasurer,  shall  be  the 


360  APPENDIX. 

same  under  this  constitution  as  are  now  established,  or 
as,  from  time  to  time,  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 

ART.  VIII. —  OF  ELECTIONS. 

• 

SECTION  1.  The  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  sen 
ators,  representatives,  secretary  of  state,  attorney  gen 
eral,  and  general  treasurer,  shall  be  elected  at  the 
town,  city,  or  ward  meetings,  to  be  holden  on  the  first 
Wednesday  of  April,  annually  ;  and  shall  severally  hold 
their  offices  for  one  year,  from  the  first  Tuesday  of  May 
next  succeeding,  and  until  others  are  legally  chosen  and 
duly  qualified  to  fill  their  places.  If  elected  or  quali 
fied  after  the  said  first  Tuesday  of  May,  they  shall  hold 
their  offices  for  the  remainder  of  the  political  year,  and 
until  their  successors  are  qualified  to  act. 

SEC.  2.  The  voting  for  governor,  lieutenant  governor, 
secretary  of  state,  attorney  general,  general  treasurer, 
and  representatives  to  Congress,  shall  be  by  ballot ;  sen 
ators  and  representatives  to  the  General  Assembly,  and 
town  or  city  officers,  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot,  on  de- 
man<J  of  any  seven  persons  entitled  to  vote  for  the  same ; 
and  in  all  cases  where  an  election  is  made  by  ballot,  or 
paper  vote,  the  manner  of  balloting  shall  be  the  same 
as  is  now  required  in  voting  for  general  officers,  until 
otherwise  prescribed  by  law. 

SEC.  3.  The  names  of  the  persons  voted  for  as  gov 
ernor,  lieutenant  governor,  secretary  of  state,  attorney 
general,  and  general  treasurer,  shall  be  placed  upon  one 
ticket ;  and  all  votes  for  these  officers  shall,  in  open 
town  or  ward  meetings,  be  sealed  up  by  the  moderators 
and  town  clerks,  and  by  the  wardens  and  ward  clerks, 
who  shall  certify  the  same,  and  deliver  or  send  them  to 
the  secretary  of  state,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  securely  to 
keep  and  deliver  the  same  to  the  grand  committee  after 
the  organization  of  the  two  Houses  at  the  annual  May 
session ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  two  Houses,  at 


APPENDIX.  361 

said  session,  after  their  organization,  upon  the  request 
of  either  House,  to  join  in  grand  committee,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  counting  and  declaring  said  votes,  and  of  elect 
ing  other  officers. 

SEC.  4.  The  town  and  ward  clerks  shall  also  keep  a 
correct  list  or  register  of  all  persons  voting  for  general 
officers,  and  shall  transmit  a  copy  thereof  to  the  General 
Assembly  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  said  May  session. 

SEC.  5.  The  ballots  for  senators  and  representatives 
in  the  several  towns  shall,  in  each  case,  after  the  polls 
are  declared  to  be  closed,  be  counted  by  the  moderator, 
who  shall  announce  the  result,  and  the  clerk  shall  give 
certificates  to  the  persons  elected.  If  in  any  case  there 
be  no  election,  the  polls  may  be  reopened,  and  the  like 
proceedings  shall  be  had  until  an  election  shall  take 
place :  Provided,  however,  That  an  adjournment  or  ad 
journments  of  the  election  may  be  made  to  a  time  not 
exceeding  seven  days  from  the  first  meeting. 

SEC.  6.  In  the  city  of  Providence,  the  polls  for  sen 
ator  and  representatives  shall  be  kept  open  during  the 
whole  time  of  voting  for  the  day,  and  the  votes  in  the 
several  wards  shall  be  sealed  up  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting  by  the  wardens  and  ward  clerks  in  open  ward 
meeting,  and  afterwards  delivered  to  the  city  clerk. 
The  mayor  and  aldermen  shall  proceed  to  count  said 
votes  within  two  days  from  the  day  of  election ;  and  if 
no  election  of  senator  and  representatives,  or  if  an  elec 
tion  of  only  a  portion  of  the  representatives,  shall  have 
taken  place,  the  mayor  and  aldermen  shall  order  a  new 
election,  to  be  held  not  more  than  ten  days  from  the 
day  of  the  first  election,  and  so  on  until  the  election 
shall  be  completed.  Certificates  of  election  shall  be 
furnished  by  the  city  clerk  to  the  persons  chosen. 

SEC.  7.    If  no  person  shall  have  a  majority  of  votes 
for  governor,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  grand  commit 
tee  to  elect  one  by  ballot  from  the  two  persons  having 
the  highest  number  of  votes  for  the  office,  except  when 
31 


APPENDIX. 

such  a  result  is  produced  by  rejecting  the  entire  vote  of 
any  town,  city,  or  ward,  for  informality  or  illegality  ;  in 
which  case,  a  new  election  by  the  electors  throughout 
the  state  shall  be  ordered ;  and  in  case  no  person  shall 
have  a  majority  of  votes  for  lieutenant  governor,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  grand  committee  to  elect  one  by  bal 
lot  from  the  two  persons  having  the  highest  number  of 
votes  for  the  office. 

SEC.  8.  In  case  an  election  of  the  secretary  of  state, 
attorney  general,  or  general  treasurer  should  fail  to  be 
made  by  the  electors  at  the  annual  election,  the  vacancy 
or  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  the  General  Assembly,  in 
grand  committee,  from  the  two  candidates  for  such  office 
having  the  greatest  number  of  the  votes  of  the  electors. 
Or  in  case  of  a  vacancy  in  either  of  said  offices  from 
other  causes,  between  the  sessions  of  the  General  As 
sembly,  the  governor  shall  appoint  some  person  to  fill 
the  same  until  a  successor  elected  by  the  General  As 
sembly  is  qualified  to  act ;  and  in  such  case,  and  also  in 
all  other  cases  of  vacancies  not  otherwise  provided  for, 
the  General  Assembly  may  fill  the  same  in  any  manner 
they  may  deem  proper. 

SEC.  9.  Vacancies  from  any  cause  in  the  Senate  or 
House  of  [Representatives  may  be  filled  by  a  new  elec 
tion. 

SEC.  10.  In  all  elections  held  by  the  people' under 
this  constitution,  a  majority  of  all  the  electors  voting 
shall  be  necessary  to  the  election  of  the  persons  voted 
for. 

ART.  IX.  —  Or  QUALIFICATIONS  FOB  OFFICE. 

SECTION  1.  No  person  shall  "be  eligible  to  any  civil 
office  (except  the  office  of  school  committee)  unless  he 
be  a  qualified  elector  for  such  office. 

SEC.  2.  Every  person  shall  be  disqualified  from  hold 
ing  any  office  to  which  he  may  have  been  elected,  if  he 
be  convicted  of  having  offered,  or  procured  any  other 


APPENDIX.  363 

person  to  offer,  any  bribe  to  secure  his  election,  or  the 
election  of  any  other  person. 

SEC.  3.  All  general  officers  shall  take  the  following 
engagement  before  they  act  in  their  respective  offices,  to 

wit:  You ,  being  by  the  free  vote  of  the  electors 

of  this  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta 
tions,  elected  unto  the  place  of  ,  do  solemnly 

swear  (or  affirm)  to  be  true  and  faithful  unto  this  state, 
and  to  support  the  constitution  of  this  state  and  of  the 
United  States ;  that  you  will  faithfully  and  impartially 
discharge  all  the  duties  of  your  aforesaid  office  to  the 
best  of  your  abilities,  according  to  law :  so  help  you 
God.  Or,  This  affirmation  you  make  and  give  upon  the 
peril  of  the  penalty  of  perjury. 

SEC.  4.  The  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  the 
judges  of  all  the  courts,  and  all  other  officers,  both  civil 
and  military,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or  affirmation  to 
support  this  constitution,  and  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

SEC.  5.  The  oath,  or  affirmation,  shall  be  adminis 
tered  to  the  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  senators,  and 
representatives,  by  the  secretary  of  state,  or,  in  his  ab 
sence,  by  the  attorney  general.  The  secretary  of  state, 
attorney  general,  and  general  treasurer  shall  be  en 
gaged  by  the  governor,  or  by  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

SEC.  6.  No  person  holding  any  office  under  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  other  state  or 
country,  shall  act  as  a  general  officer,  or  as  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly,  unless,  at  the  time  of  taking  his 
engagement,  he  shall  have  resigned  his  office  under  such 
government.  And  if  any  general  officer,  senator,  rep 
resentative,  or  judge,  shall,  after  his  election  and  en 
gagement,  accept  any  appointment  under  any  other 
government,  his  office  under  this  shall  be  immediately 
vacated ;  but  this  restriction  shall  not  apply  to  any  per 
son  appointed  to  take  depositions  or  acknowledgments 


364  APPENDIX. 

of  deeds,  or  other  legal  instruments,  by  the  authority  of 
any  other  state  or  country, 

ART.  X.  —  OF  THE  JUDICIAL  POWER. 

SECTION  1.  The  judicial  power  of  this  state  shall  be 
vested  in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  courts 
as  the  General  Assembly  may,  from  time  to  time,  or 
dain  and  establish. 

SEC.  2.  The  several  courts  shall  have  such  jurisdic 
tion  as  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  prescribed  by  law. 
Chancery  powers  may  be  conferred  on  the  Supreme 
Court,  but  on  no  other  court,  to  any  greater  extent  than 
is  now  provided  by  law. 

SEC.  3.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall,  in  all 
trials,,  instruct  the  jury  in  the  law.  They  shall  also  give 
their  written  opinion  upon  any  question  of  law,  when 
ever  requested  by  the  governor,  or  by  either  House  of 
the  General  Assembly. 

SEC.  4.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  be 
elected  by  the  two  Houses  in  grand  committee.  Each 
judge  shall  hold  his  office  until  his  place  be  declared 
vacant  by  a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly  to  that 
effect ;  which  resolution  shall  be  voted  for  by  a  major 
ity  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the  House  in  which  it 
may  originate,  and  be  concurred  in  by  the  same  majority 
of  the  other  House.  Such  resolution  shall  not  be  en 
tertained  at  any  other  than  the  annual  session  for  the 
election  of  public  officers ;  and,  in  default  of  the  pas 
sage  thereof  at  said  session,  the  judge  shall  hold  his 
place  as  herein  provided.  But  a  judge  of  any  court 
shall  be  removed  from  office,  if,  upon  impeachment,  he 
shall  be  found  guilty  of  any  official  misdemeanor. 

SEC.  5.  In  case  of  vacancy  by  death,  resignation,  re 
moval  from  the  state,  or  from  office,  refusal  or  inability 
to  serve,  of  any  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  office 
may  be  filled  by  the  grand  committee,  until  the  next 


APPENDIX.  365 

annual  election,  and  the  judge  then  elected  shall  hold 
his  office  as  before  provided.  In  cases  of  impeachment, 
or  temporary  absence  or  inability,  the  governor  may  ap 
point  a  person  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  dur 
ing  the  vacancy  caused  thereby. 

SEC.  6.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  shall  re 
ceive  a  compensation  for  their  services  which  shall  not 
be  diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  7.  The  towns  of  New  Shoreham  and  James 
town  may  continue  to  elect  their  wardens  as  heretofore. 
The  other  towns,  and  the  city  of  Providence,  may  elect 
such  number  of  justices  of  the  peace,  resident  therein, 
as  they  may  deem  proper.  The  jurisdiction  of  said 
justices  and  wardens  shall  be  regulated  by  law.  The 
justices  shall  be  commissioned  by  the  governor. 

ART.  XI.  —  OF  IMPEACHMENTS. 

SECTION  1.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  have 
the  sole  power  of  impeachment.  A  vote  of  two  thirds 
of  all  the  members  elected  shall  be  required  for  an  im 
peachment  of  the  governor.  Any  officer  impeached 
shall  thereby  be  suspended  from  office  until  judgment 
in  the  case  shall  have  been  pronounced. 

SEC.  2.  All  impeachments  shall  be  tried  by  the  Sen 
ate  ;  and,  when  sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  ' 
under  oath  or  affirmation.  No  person  shall  be  convicted 
except  by  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  elected. 
When  the  governor  is  impeached,  the  chief  or  presiding 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  the  time  being,  shall 
preside,  with  a  casting  vote  in  all  preliminary  questions 

SEC.  3.  The  governor,  and  all  other  executive  and 
judicial  officers,  shall  be  liable  to  impeachment;  but 
judgment  in  such  cases  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  office.  The  person  convicted  shall,  nev 
ertheless,  be  liable  to  indictment,  trial,  and  punishment, 
according  to  law. 

31* 


366  APPENDIX. 


ART.  XII.  —  OF  EDUCATION. 

SECTION  1.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge,  as  well  as 
of  virtue,  among  the  people,  being  essential  to  the  pres 
ervation  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  General  Assembly  to  promote  public  schools,. 
and  to  adopt  all  means  which  they  may  deem  necessary 
and  proper  to  secure  to  the  people  the  advantages  and 
opportunities  of  education. 

SEC.  2.  The  money  which  now  is,  or  which  may 
hereafter  be,  appropriated  by  law  for  the  establishment 
of  a  permanent  fund  for  the  support  of  public  schools, 
shall  be  securely  invested,  and  remain  a  perpetual  fund 
for  that  purpose. 

SEC.  3.  All  donations  for  the  support  of  public 
schools,  or  for  other  purposes  of  education,  which  may 
be  received  by  the  General  Assembly,  shall  be  applied 
according  to  the  terms  prescribed  by  the  donors. 

SEC.  4.  The  General  Assembly  shall  make  all  neces 
sary  provisions  by  law  for  carrying  this  article  into- 
effect.  They  shall  not  divert  said  money,  or  fund,  from 
the  aforesaid  uses  ;  nor  borrow,  appropriate,  or  use  the 
same,  or  any  part  thereof,  for  any  other  purpose,  under 
any  pretence  whatsoever. 

ART.  XIII.  —  OF  AMENDMENTS. 

The  General  Assembly  may  propose  amendments  to 
this  constitution  by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  all  the 
members  elected  to  each  House.  Such  propositions  for 
amendment  shall  be  published  in  the  newspapers,  and 
printed  copies  of  them  shall  be  sent  to  the  secretary  of 
state,  with  the  names  of  all  the  members  who  shall 
have  voted  thereon,  with  the  yeas  and  nays,  to  all  the 
town  and  city  clerks  in  the  state.  The  said  propositions 
shall  be,  by  said  clerks,  inserted  in  the  warrants  or 
notices  by  them  issued,  for  warning  the  next  annual 


APPENDIX.  367 

town  and  ward  meetings,  in  April ;  and  the  clerks  shall 
read  said  propositions  to  the  electors  when  thus  assem 
bled,  with  the  names  of  all  the  representatives  and  sen 
ators  who  shall  have  voted  thereon,  with  the  yeas  and 
nays,  before  the  election  of  senators  and  representatives 
shall  be  had.  If  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected 
to  each  House,  at  said  annual  meeting,  shall  approve  any 
proposition  thus  made,  the  same  shall  be  published  and 
submitted  to  the  electors  in  the  mode  provided  in  the 
act  of  approval ;  and  if  then  approved  by  three  fifths  of 
the  electors  of  the  state  present,  and  voting  thereon  in 
town  and  ward  meetings,  it  shall  become  a  part  of  the 
constitution  of  the  state. 

ART.  XIV.  —  OF  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THIS  CON 
STITUTION. 

SECTION  1.  This  constitution,  if  adopted,  shall  go 
into  operation  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  in  the  year 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-three.  The  first 
election  of  governor,  lieutenant  governor,  secretary  of 
state,  attorney  general,  and  general  treasurer,  and  of 
senators  and  representatives  under  said  constitution, 
shall  be  had  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  April  next  pre 
ceding,  by  the  electors  qualified  under  said  constitution ; 
and  the  town  and  ward  meetings  therefor  shall  be 
warned  and  conducted  as  is  now  provided  by  law.  All 
civil  and  military  officers  now  elected,  or  who  shall  be 
hereafter  elected,  by  the  General  Assembly,  or  other 
competent  authority,  before  the  said  first  Wednesday  of 
April,  shall  hold  their  offices,  and  may  exercise  their 
powers,  until  the  said  first  Tuesday  of  May,  or  until 
their  successors  shall  be  qualified  to  act.  All  statutes, 
public  and  private,  not  repugnant  to  this  constitution, 
shall  continue  in  force  until  they  expire  by  their  own 
limitation,  or  are  repealed  by  the  General  Assembly. 
All  charters,  contracts,  judgments,  actions,  and  rights 


368  APPENDIX. 

of  action,  shall  be  as  valid  as  if  this  constitution  had 
not  been  made.  The  present  government  shall  exercise 
all  the  powers  with  which  it  is  now  clothed,  until  the 
said  first  Tuesday  of  May,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty-three,  and  until  the  government  under  this 
constitution  is  duly  organized. 

SEC.  2.  All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements 
entered  into,  before  the  adoption  of  this  constitution, 
shall  be  as  valid  against  the  state  as  if  this  constitution 
had  not  been  adopted. 

SEC.  3.  The  Supreme  Court,  established  by  this  con 
stitution,  shall  have  the  same  jurisdiction  as  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  at  present  established ;  and  shall  have 
jurisdiction  of  all  causes  which  may  be  appealed  to,  or 
pending  in  the  same ;  and  shall  be  held  at  the  same 
times  and  places,  and  in  each  county,  as  the  present 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,  until  otherwise  prescribed  by 
the  General  Assembly. 

SEC.  4.  The  towns  of  New  Shoreham  and  James 
town  shall  continue  to  enjoy  the  exemptions  from  mili 
tary  duty  which  they  now  enjoy,  until  otherwise  pre 
scribed  by  law. 

Done  in  convention  at  East  Greenwich,  this  fifth  day 
of  November,  1842. 

JAMES  FENNER,  President. 

HENRY  Y.  CRANSTON,  Vice  President. 


THOMAS  A.   JENCKES,  )  e       .     • 
•rrr  -*TT    TT  >  secretaries. 

WALTER  W.  UPDIKE,  ) 


2       0204 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

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N9  757209       ' 

F83.4 
King,    D.  K52 

The  life  and  times 
of  Thomas  Wilson  Dorr. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


